More Than a Fan Girl
by SpikeANDJerome
Summary: Sequal to "Don't You Wish You Were Us?". How do Stella and Ray work as a couple? Why is Mo bothered by Charlie's friendship with a fan? Pairings: Stella/Ray, Wen/Olivia, Charlie/?, Mo/Scott?
1. Chapter 1

This picks up where my other story, "Don't You Wish You Were Us?" ended. It's another ensemble piece, with a little more focus this time on the characters that had less "air time" in the other story. I hope you enjoy it!

I do not own Lemonade Mouth. But I'm taking ownership of Veronica McKenna.

**Chapter 1**

"Thanks for coming out, guys!" said Charlie. "It's great to see all of you!"

The cluster of girls giggled and thrust out pieces of paper to Charlie to sign. Charlie signed all of them, though his stomach grumbled and he ached to be in a booth at Dante's, _finally _sitting down and inhaling half a meat-lover's pizza.

"We love you, Charlie," cried a voice from the back of the crowd. The girls frequently said this to Charlie. Rather, he frequently heard faceless voices say this. None of them ever said it directly to him. Once the fangirls were facing him, they suddenly became shy. If they made eye contact, it was brief. They seldom even had the courage to ask for an autograph. Usually, they silently held a piece of paper out toward him, as an unspoken question. It was often followed by running far away from him with more giggles and squeals.

These same girls were totally different with the female members of Lemonade Mouth. The instant they met Olivia, Mo, or especially Stella, they acted as if they were all BFF's together. They gushed about every detail of their lives and often tried to make plans with the girls to hang out together.

Mo had explained to Charlie that for girls, celebrity crushes were a sort of "safe" thing. A guy they didn't know was whoever they wanted him to be. And it was frequently best that they knew as little about him as possible, so that he could live up to their dreams about him.

None of this made the least bit of sense to Charlie. But, since Mo was a girl (_and what a girl!_), Charlie figured she knew about other girls than he did, so he took her at her word.

The crowd slowly dwindled, and a blonde-haired girl made her way to the front. "Hey, Stacy!" Charlie greeted the girl. "Thanks for coming! And thanks for spreading the word about the show!" It had taken Charlie a while to figure out how to talk to fans; after all, he was still getting used to not being a total nobody at school anymore. But he was getting the hang of polite-but-sincere-without-getting-too-personal conversation with fans.

"Are you kidding me?" Even when asking a question, Stacy always spoke to Charlie in exclamations. Overwhelming, perhaps, but Stacy was one of the few Charlie Girls (their name for themselves, not his) who spoke directly to him. "Everyone was over the MOON to get to be the ones to hear the new song! Hey, who's Ray Beech? The kids here tonight from your school were acting all surprised that he wrote your song! Is this the same Ray Beech as the one from Mudslide Crush? Why is he writing you songs? Did he leave Mudslide Crush? OMIGOD, did Mudslide Crush break up? Is this because Scott Pickett joined Lemonade Mouth?"

"Woah!" said Charlie. Yeah, Stacy was pretty overwhelming. Also, Stacy ran a Lemonade Mouth blog, so she was constantly on the prowl for news to post. Charlie did not need Mo's coaching (although she had given him plenty, whether or not he asked for it) to know to tread carefully when talking to Stacy. "OK, it's a long story, and it looks like they're closing up around here. Ray's…" _what the heck was he, anyway? Scott's best friend, Stella's boyfriend (still adjusting to that one), everyone else's personal tormentor…until recently…argh, what to say to Stacy?_ "…closely connected to all of us. And, well, he wrote a great song." _Please don't let her ask any more questions. _"Anyway, it looks like they're closing down here, and I've got school tomorrow!" He rolled his eyes, just to make sure she didn't think he loved going to school or something. He started to turn away.

"Charlie, I have another question!"

_Oh no! _Charlie was terrible at lying, and he was even worse at responding to unexpected questions or comments from others. In Charlie's opinion, this was the hardest part of fame, knowing the right thing to say at all times. _If I knew how to do that, a certain conversation with a certain Indian girl would have had a different outcome…_

"Yes?" he turned back reluctantly.

"Do you think you could give another interview on the next We Love Charlie Night?"

He could do that. A web interview gave him time to think of his replies, and she was kind enough to give him her questions in advance.

"Sure!"

"Great! This time, we'll make it a live stream (I just figured out how to do it)! OH, and we'll have the subscribers give you their questions!"

_Great, what have I gotten myself into? _"OK, well, uh, let me check the band's schedule…and I'll get back to you."

Just then, another girl approached Stacy. "Hey, Stace, you ready?" She saw Charlie and said, "Hello." with a not unpleasant smile.

_Eye contact, and a simple "hello". _Charlie was immediately at ease with this stranger.

"OK, Mac!" said Stacy. Then, to Charlie, she said, "Charlie! Remember when you talked to my friend, McKenna, on the phone while I was at work?"

"Of course I do!"

"This," gesturing to the other girl, "is McKenna!"

"It's nice to meet you, McKenna," said Charlie, putting out his hand to shake hers.

"It's actually Veronica," said the other girl, shaking Charlie's hand. "McKenna's my last name."

"Oh, ok," said Charlie, a little bit confused.

Veronica explained, "It's Stacy's attempt to get me to join the track team with her. She's been doing it for years. She thought that calling me by my last name, like coaches do, would get me into being an athlete."

"Did it work?"

"Not so much. I don't run unless I'm being chased." Charlie laughed.

Stacy rolled her eyes and said, "It'll work one of these days…"

Veronica said to Charlie, "I really like your music."

Even though she did not speak in exclamations, her compliment sounded more sincere than most did.

"Thank-you!" said Charlie.

"I really liked the new piece."

_She said "piece" and not "song". _That caught Charlie's ear, as it was typically the type of term a musician used.

Veronica went on, "The lyrics had more of a bite than your normal stuff. But that's the Ray Beech signature, I suppose. And it wasn't offensive, just humorous. And the bridge, that was genius to have Stella sing it. The edge in her voice mixed with that emotion was such a perfect mix for the message! Usually you have Mo sing the more emotional lyrics, so it was an interesting change to have Stella sing that one." She stopped herself. "Anyway…" she was suddenly embarrassed that she had spoken so much.

Charlie asked, "Do you play an instrument?"

Stacy laughed, "Just a little!" But Veronica emphatically shook her head, "Not at all."

"Which is it?"

Veronica explained, "I love music, all kinds. And I can't commit to one instrument. Once I learn how it's played, I lose all self-discipline to practice and master it."

Stacy said, "Mac knows _everything _about music!"

"Hardly," said Veronica.

"Well," said Charlie, "I'm flattered that someone as knowledgeable as you likes our stuff." His stomach grumbled, this time audibly. "And now, I've _got_ to go! Veronica, it was great to meet you. And Stacy, I'll PM you on your site and let you know about Wednesday."

Charlie gave Stacy a hug. Right at mid-hug, Mo walked in.

"Charlie, we've got to g-" she stopped short at the sight of Charlie hugging a fan. She was not pleased.


	2. Chapter 2

This story is more slow-going. I just can't get a handle on Charlie, and chemistry is much easier for me to write. So, next chapter will be Stella and Ray! I reward myself with a Stella/Ray chapter after muddling through the Charlie story. My problem is that his movie character is much different from his book character, and he gets very little play time in the movie. He's super into Mo, and…what else? I'm choosing to bring in part of his book character, that he's obsessed with music. But, if any of you have insight into Charlie, let me know!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 2**

Charlie finished hugging Stacy and turned to face Mo. "Hey!" he smiled and waved. Mo put on her front-for-fans smile and said, "It's time to go, Charlie. We packed your drum kit for you."

"Wow, thanks!" Charlie said. He said good-bye again to Stacy and Veronica, and he followed Mo, who had already headed out the door.

On his way out, he passed Stella and Ray, still in the same corner where he had last seen them. He shook his head as he walked past. _Weird._

Less than an hour had Charlie seated in the band's booth at Dante's, wolfing down his beloved meat lover's pizza. Between bites, he deflected Mo's accusations.

"It was a total friendly hug. It's no big deal," he said with his mouth full.

"Charlie, it _is _a big deal! She could misinterpret that, and then post that you guys are dating!" said Mo.

"That's a pretty big jump, don't you think?" said Wen.

"No, not at all," said Mo.

"Babe, I really don't think it'll be a problem," said Scott, with some level of authority. Although Mudslide Crush never reached Lemonade Mouth's height of fame, they did enjoy local recognition. And so Scott knew how to handle life in the spotlight.

Mo shook her head. "Mudslide Crush doesn't have any ideals as its foundation."

"Uh, except for the ideal of exceptionally awesome music," said Scott. He had a right to defend the band that he had co-founded with Ray and Dean.

"Anyway," said Mo, "Lemonade Mouth is supposed to be the voice for the unheard. We can't get a reputation for one of us being a womanizer…"

Charlie interrupted, still with his mouth full, and only briefly glancing up from his pizza, "A hug is _not _womanizing!"

Mo continued, "If this girl gets the wrong idea, and then thinks you're dating, and then you aren't and you have to correct it, people are going to think you play your fans."

"I still think that's a reach," said Wen.

Mo looked to Olivia for support, "Right?"

Olivia looked dubious. "I think I'm kinda with the guys here. I don't think one hug is going to be the downfall of the band." Seeing Mo's deflated expression, Olivia quickly added, "As long, Charlie, as you keep your polite distance."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "I know the drill!"

Wen added, "Well, and don't forget what my dad said about all of this." They remembered Mr. Gifford's safety lecture and all nodded. "We need to be kept safe from the creepers." Wen said, adding a hand motion that looked like a distorted itsy bitsy spider.

"Ew!" squeaked Olivia.

"I'm not joking," said Mo. "If we got a rep for being unkind to people, we would be undoing everything that Stella wanted us to stand for."

"Speaking of Stella…" said Wen, "…I saw it with my own eyes, and I guess we kinda all saw it coming, but still, totally weird, right?"

"Yeah, definitely," said Charlie.

"I just don't get it," said Olivia, shaking her head.

"But, in a weird way…" said Mo, "it kinda makes…sense."

Everyone looked at her.

"Wait," said Scott. "So, Stella gets a love life, but Charlie doesn't?"

"I'm not into that girl," said Charlie.

"That's not at _all _the same thing," said Mo. "Stella getting together with someone who is in the same arena as her is not the same as Charlie getting with a fan girl."

"I'm not into her," said Charlie.

"Wow, Mo! That sounds a little like the elitism that Lemonade Mouth is supposed to be fighting against," said Scott.

"That's not what I meant!" Mo let out an exasperated sigh. "Stella and Ray knew each other before all of this."

"And they hated each other," said Wen.

Mo continued, ignoring Wen. "Charlie met this girl _because_ of all of this. So there's no way to know if she's into Charlie himself or the _idea _of Charlie."

"I'M NOT INTO HER!" cried Charlie. Everyone stopped and looked at him.

"She's not my type."

"What about the other girl? You seemed pretty chummy with her, too," said Mo. Scott gave her a sharp look.

"Not into her, either. She knows music, and she was giving us some really interesting music-based compliments, including for you, Mo."

Mo raised her eyebrow and cocked her head to the side, waiting.

Charlie let her wait a little bit longer before responding. "She said your voice went well with the more emotional lyrics because of its warmth of tone."

Mo's face softened. "That was sweet of her. You're _sure _you're not into her?"

"for the last time, YES!"

Scott defended Charlie. "I saw her when I was packing up Charlie's kit. She's a total P.J."

Wen nodded in recognition of the term.

Mo was completely confused. "Huh? She looks like the brother from 'Good Luck Charlie'?"

"No, babe. A P.J. is a Plain Jane."

"That's awful!" said Olivia.

"You're not a P.J., Liv," said Wen. Olivia and Mo both rolled their eyes in disgust at Man Talk.

"Point being, yet again, that I'm not into her. Or her friend. Or any of the other 'Fan Girls' as you call them," said Charlie. "Now, I gotta get home. I will fail English if I don't turn something in at some point in time."

They said good-bye to Mr. Dante and thanked him for their dinner (he never let them pay), and they went home.

Once Charlie was home and in bed, he mulled over the evening. Veronica seemed like a nice girl, but was definitely not his type. That was a good thing, because he didn't need the headache of a "forbidden" love life.

What was a bad thing, however, was having to hear all of this from Mo. Try as he might, Charlie could not get her out of his head. He respected Scott, and he even saw him as friend more than rival. He accepted that Mo only had eyes for Scott. He was getting good at enduring being around them together all of the time, since Scott was kind enough to drive him everywhere these days. But to get lectures from Mo about whom he was and was not allowed to date was too much. His patience was beginning to wear thin.


	3. Chapter 3

A Ray/Stella chapter, sure to make you squishy inside! I just love this couple! They will appear repeatedly throughout the story. They are too much fun to write to desert. I hope you enjoy.

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 3**

"Uh, guys? We're closing down here? Maybe you could take it somewhere else?" A man with a push broom searched for the most polite way possible to kick Stella and Ray out of the club.

"Oops!" said Stella. "OK!" She detached herself from Ray in order to pick up her guitar case. Ray reluctantly let go of her.

Out in front, they made their way to Ray's car. Ray unlocked the car from his keychain, and he step/crutched over to the driver's side. Stella stood outside of the passenger door. Ray got in, sat down, and waited for Stella to get in. Stella continued to stand outside of his car.

"Waiting for the engraved invitation, Yamada?"

"No," said Stella. She stood. _He'll figure it out. He has to figure it out. This spells total disaster if he doesn't figure it out! _She took a breath. _You need to stop freaking out over this guy. Settle down._

She recalled her mother's words, drilled into her head almost daily since Stella was around ten years old: _Stella, you are a good lady, and you deserve a good gentleman. Any boy who does not behave as a gentleman does not deserve your time. _The times that her dad was nearby during the lecture, he added the list of what to look out for in a "gentleman": _opens your door, comes up to meet your parents, always walks you to the door, pays at least for the first few dates, and NEVER makes you feel…uncomfortable. _Her poor dad always had a difficult time with that last one.

Ray looked at Stella, puzzling over what she was doing out there. Then, he took the time to really look at her. _She is beautiful! And she's nothing like any of the other girls…_ It finally dawned on him what she was doing out there.

Every other girl that Ray had ever dated was so thrilled to be with The Ray Beech that they had set their expectations low for his behavior toward them and his treatment of them. Being Ray, he let this get to his head, and he eventually let himself forget appropriate gentlemanly behavior. It, of course, took Stella Yamada, standing outside of his car, alone in the dark and the cold, to remind him.

Ray got out of his car, got out his crutches, and he step/crutched over to the passenger side of the car. He opened the door for Stella. Relief filled her face, and she sat down into Ray's car. He shut her door, and he returned to the driver's side.

"Sorry about that," he said, "I forgot."

"Thank-you for remembering," said Stella. She smiled, and she placed her hand on his arm. Ray had no desire to start the car and drive anywhere. He reluctantly did, as it was getting rather late.

"Wait," said Stella, "how do you drive?"

"Left-footed," Ray said. "It's not as hard as it sounds." As he drove Stella to her house, she leaned over, gave his shoulder a kiss, and rested her head on it. He put his arm around her and held her.

Neither of them felt happy about arriving at Stella's house. They stayed a little while longer in Ray's car, recapping the event-filled night.

"I just can't believe it," said Stella.

"What?" said Ray.

"All of it."

"Especially that a lowly freshman like you landed the likes of Ray Beech? Dreams do come true!"

"Something like that," said Stella, sitting up straight, and rolling her eyes.

Ray looked away for a second, and said, "Yeah, it's all pretty unbelievable."

Stella realized that maybe Ray was having second thoughts. People crack jokes in order to break the intensity of a moment. And that had been a pretty intense night. It just now occurred to Stella that perhaps Ray was starting to worry about how they, as a "they", would translate in the light of day and at school. Stella didn't typically concern herself with what other people thought. But image had been Ray's whole life, until recently. And changing too much too soon, even if for the better, did not usually work out for a person. She thought it best to let him decide where to go with this. She hoped against hope that he didn't end it. But if she really loved him, she would have to have faith in him to find his way, and patience to wait for it.

"OK, well, good night," said Stella.

Ray looked at Stella. "Stella?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't really do these kinds of talks."

"OK. So, then, good night?"

"But, I meant to say, that, it's unbelievable that a person as good as you would want the likes of me."

Stella melted, yet again. "Oh!" She couldn't say anything else. She picked up his hand, and she kissed it several times. She reached up and touched his cheek with her other hand. Then, she leaned forward, and she kissed him. Ray wrapped his arms around her. A part of him feared that if he let go of her, he would wake up alone in that hospital room, and that the past couple of weeks would have all been a dream.

But Stella always knew the right thing to say to him, to let him know that this was really all happening. She leaned back just far enough to look at him, and she said, "Well, it's not every day that a lowly freshman like me has a shot at the great Ray Beech."

Ray traced his fingers around the back of Stella's hair. He smiled warmly at her. "Lucky you," he said.

"Yeah," she sighed, "lucky me." Then she leaned up to his ear and whispered, "But we all know who the real lucky one is."

"True," he said.

"OK, good night, really," said Stella. "We're definitely past 'show and then dinner' time. My parents are going to start to panic!"

Ray got out of the car, and he opened Stella's door for her. He walked her up to her front door. "So, I guess I'm taking you to school now?"

"Nope," said Stella.

"OK? You prefer to walk?"

Stella said, quietly, in order to not wake up her household, "as progressive as my mom is with environmental science, she's as old-school as it gets when it comes to boys and her daughter. And my dad is ten times worse. 'None shall pass' without meeting them first."

"So, I take you out on a real date?"

"Yes!"

"Well, tomorrow is Friday. Are you free?"

"I'll have to check my calendar…yes, I can pencil you in."

"I'll see you at 6."

"OK, after we spend the whole day in school together…"

"Good night, beautiful girl." He kissed her again and went back to his car.

Stella had no idea if she walked or floated to bed that night.


	4. Chapter 4

This is in order to get to know Veronica a little bit better. It's my experiment in creating my own characters. Wish me luck!

I do not own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 4**

Veronica had never heard the term "P.J." before, but if she had, she would be the first to describe herself as such. Everything about Veronica's appearance was "ish": medium-ish height, brownish/blondish hair, greenish/grayish eyes. Though she was not out of fashion, she took no effort to dress in style, either. She was not shy, but she was not outgoing. Veronica was the classic friend-of-the-pretty-girl.

In this case, that pretty girl was Stacy. Stacy was athletic, outgoing, stylish, energetic, and pretty. She was not necessarily a flirt, but if there was a guy to be had, he always wanted Stacy. Veronica did not begrudge her friend this, because Stacy was a loving and loyal best friend. Stacy did not realize that Veronica was sometimes a little bit weary of being approached by guys who wanted advice on how to get with Stacy.

This was part of what Veronica enjoyed about meeting Charlie Delgado. This was the first time that she had seen a guy not seem to have an interest in Stacy. Even though Veronica had no interest in him, and she knew that the reason he wasn't interested in Stacy was because he still harbored something for Mohini (this was clear to anyone who watched him on Moxie's show), she had to admit that it was entertaining to watch a guy be totally unaffected by Stacy's charms.

However, Stacy wasn't exactly "on her game" around Charlie. Normally cool and clever with guys, Stacy lost all self-control of her words (or tone or volume, for that matter) around Charlie. This also entertained Veronica. Veronica had no end of teasing Stacy about it, too.

For this reason, Stacy had begged Veronica to help her with the Charlie interview the previous week. "I need a calmer head in this!" Veronica was happy to help her friend, and she created a list of questions for Stacy to ask Charlie, mostly compiled from a few tween-crush magazines that the girls had poured over for inspiration (they also got a kick out of taking the quizzes in those magazines, of course).

The first interview went very smoothly, and Stacy's Lemonade Mouth blog got much increased traffic from it. She expanded the site to include a bulletin board and a photo album. She also figured out how to live stream, "in case I get to interview him again!" Veronica chose not to point out to Stacy the reasons why that would be a very bad idea. After all, she assumed that it would be unnecessary, that there was no way Stacy would get another chance to interview Charlie Delgado.

Veronica forgot about Stacy's inherent ability to get what she wanted.

Stacy did, in fact, get a second interview.

"OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOOOOOD!" Stacy was pretty happy about it, evidently. They were on their way home from the show, in the back of Stacy's uncle's car. He owned the branch of Azure Cruise Line in their town, which explained Stacy's ability to land a job as a high school freshman. And he was kind enough to cart them around after parent hours, partly because of the advertising painted all over his car.

Veronica calmly watched Stacy and waited for the other shoe to drop. There it was: "oh no!"

Veronica replied, "Yes?" feigning ignorance.

"I can't live stream an interview!"

"You don't really know how?"

"No, of course I know how."

Veronica smiled. Stacy took great pride in her tech skills. Therefore, like any decent best friend, Veronica loved to pretend as if she didn't know that about Stacy, just to get a rise out of her.

"It's just that, I'm gonna spaz and not ask the right questions. And then the interview will tank. And my subscribers will drop. And Charlie will stop speaking to me. And I'll be a total failure!"

"OK, downshift," Veronica was used to Stacy's nervous rampages. She had become expert at calming her friend down and helping her solve her myriad "crises". "Just like last time, you'll write down your questions ahead of time. And Charlie doesn't exactly 'speak' to you now, so there's nothing started to end there. And finally, you run a blog: 'total failure' just means that fewer people read it. No biggie."

Stacy rolled her eyes. "You don't get it, McKenna."

"You're right, I don't."

Stacy had the lightbulb-in-her-head expression. This always worried Veronica. "OH OH OH! You're going to help me!"

"Uh, I don't think so."

"PLLEEEAAAASSSSE! All you have to do is sit with me during the interview and keep me calm."

"So, just hang out with you, like I always do?"

"Pretty much."

Veronica shrugged. "OK."

Stacy changed the subject. "So…did you notice any cute guys tonight?"

"Not so much. I was focusing on the music."

"Come ON, Mac! Nothing?"

Veronica had long ago given up looking for guys when she went out with Stacy. The guy _always_ wanted Stacy. And Veronica was usually left to make small talk with the guy's friend who was either completely undesirable or had a girlfriend. She replied, "Nope. You?"

"Naw." She continued. "So…any progress with Jordon these days?"

"Ugh! No!" Veronica hated when Stacy brought up her crush. It only reminded Veronica of how incredibly hopeless her situation was.

"But you have so much opportunity to spend time with him, especially with the whole MAC V.P. thing." Veronica had recently been elected vice president of the Music Appreciation Club. Jordan had founded the club as a freshman, and so naturally he was president of it, even though he was only a sophomore. Jordan's love of music was one of the things that Veronica liked best about him.

They were both passionate about music. She spent a ton of time with him, between planning MAP events and then going to them. And yet, she was completely invisible to him.

Veronica sighed. It seemed that she was complete invisible to all boys. _And I had to choose a shining star for a best friend._

At least Stacy was the best BFF a girl could ask for. She was loyal and kind and incredibly funny. They both completely got each other; they could tease each other mercilessly and never get offended, because they knew that it all came from the depth of love that comes from almost a lifetime of being nearly inseparable.

"McKenna, you know what you need to do."

"Urgh, Stace, not again!"

"Well, it's true. Put some effort into your look, sweet thing!"

Veronica blew a raspberry at Stacy. "I like to sleep in the morning. Make-up and hair-styles take time…"

"Just 15 minutes. It takes 10 minutes to do a decent blow-out, just a little bit longer than it takes to stick that ponytail in every morning, and just 5 minutes for make-up."

"That's 15 minutes that I could be sleeping. And besides, I don't know anything about fashion. Leave me and my jeans and t-shirts alone."

"Yeah, because I can't take you shopping or anything…"

"Oh, look, we're at my house! Bye Stace, see you tomorrow. Thank-you, Mr. Jenkins!" Stacy's uncle waved at Veronica as she left the car.

Once inside, she stood against the closed door, let out a sigh, and scowled out into the darkness. She knew that Stacy was right. But there was a part of her that feared being noticed. _I could end up looking ridiculous._ She'd rather be invisible than on everyone's radar as overtly ugly.

Before going to bed, Veronica searched online for a recording of Lemonade Mouth's new song, "Good Interrupted." When she heard a song she liked, she listened to it over and over again. _Lyle strikes again! _She found what she wanted on YouTube. Some tech kid from Lemonade Mouth's school was a recording genius. He always had the best footage. She set the song on repeat, and she went to sleep, dissecting and enjoying every detail of the song.


	5. Chapter 5

This scene came to me the other day, and it cracked me up. I hope you enjoy.

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 5**

Olivia said good-bye to Gram, and she went outside to wait for Wen. He rode his bike to her house, and then they went to school together. Before New York, they always rode their bikes. But since returning from that wonderful trip, they began walking to school; it gave them more time together.

"Good morning!" Wen greeted her as his bike coasted to a stop in front of her. Olivia smiled, and reached up to remove his helmet. But her efforts were thwarted by his many kisses, which also made her laugh. "Cut it out! I can't get to the clasp!" she cried. "Butterfingers," he said. Then he grabbed her hands and started kissing her fingers. "You're hopeless!" she said. "A girl can't even do a little nice thing for her boyfriend!"

"Then do a big nice thing instead," he said, "I'll take a Ferrari."

"What color?"

"Red. NO. Chartreuse!"

"Darn!" she snapped her fingers. "We're fresh out. You'll have to walk again."

"Again!" he complained. "At least I get a cute escort!" Olivia smiled as Wen took her hand.

"Actually," she said, "You get two escorts today. Stella is joining us."

"I thought she went with Scott and them," Wen said.

"Scott had zero period practice today, which she totally forgot about. She didn't get up early enough, so she told them to go on without her. Besides…" Olivia looked a little bit guilty but also had a sly smile about her "…I imagine they thought that Ray would be taking her to school…"

"Probably," Wen smiled at Olivia almost being devious. Then he frowned and shook his head. "Weird. So weird."

"I know, but if anyone can tame the savage beast that is Ray Beech, it's Stella."

Just then, Stella approached. "Hi guys! Thanks for waiting for me!"

"Good morning!" said Wen. They started off for school. "Aren't we cheerful this morning!"

"You're about as subtle as an anvil, Gifford," said Stella dryly.

"Forgive our shock, Stella," said Olivia, "It's some pretty big news, you know?"

"I know! Right? We have an agent! And a new song! It's all so amazing! So much newness all around!"

"Ha. Ha. Ha." said Wen. "Out with it. When did all of this happen? Ray Beech? Really?"

"Well, in the hospital, I guess," replied Stella.

"So, then," Olivia tried to choose her words carefully. "Is it a kind of Florence Nightingale thing?"

"I don't think so," said Stella. "For one thing, I'm a terrible caretaker. And for another thing, he looked pretty awful in the hospital. We just had time to get…a different…perspective…on each other, outside of John Hughes land."

"So, it's a 'Breakfast Club' thing?" said Wen. "Which one are you, Ally Sheedy? Is he Emilio Estevez? OOO! I wanna play! Oh wait, I have to be the nerd kid, don't I? Dang it! Redheads always get the crappy roles!"

"OK, weirdo, back it up," One of the things that Stella loved and appreciated the best about her friends was that they could out-strange her. But she had to clear this up quickly, though she really didn't know how. She tried a new angle. "Doesn't he seem different to you?"

Wen and Olivia acknowledged that they had noticed the changes in his behavior at school since his return from the hospital. "But I think that maybe a part of me wonders if this will all go away once the cast comes off his leg, and he's back to getting to be all the things he was before." said Olivia.

"Well," said Stella, "his voice is back. And he hasn't been obnoxious yet. We'll just have to wait and see about the cast. And I totally get what you're saying, Olivia. I'd be lying if I didn't wonder myself. But…I have to have faith that he won't. I'm too far down the rabbit hole to jump out now! So, I guess I'm all in. You two can certainly understand that, right?" She was happy to be having this conversation with another new couple to their world.

Wen and Olivia stole an affectionate glance at one another. "Yeah," he said.

"How's this going to work at school?" asked Olivia. She loved nothing more than to hold hands with Wen whenever she could, and to see him between classes, and to find ways to look at him during the classes they had together. He was equally hopeless. But they were freshmen who lived in their own plane of existence of the band. Ray Beech and Stella Yamada were two entirely different people from Wen and Olivia, and from each other. Olivia couldn't for the life of her conjure up the mental image of Stella and Ray walking the halls together, holding hands. In fact, though Olivia knew that Ray was almost never without a girlfriend, she had no memory of him ever holding hands with a girl at school.

Stella said, "I don't know. He has changed a lot recently, and I don't want to push it. I'm just gonna let him decide how he wants to take it."

Olivia gave Wen a worried look. Wen spoke up. "That doesn't sound like you, Stella. You don't let others take charge. You take charge!"

Stella replied, "Look, he shouldn't have to do all the changing. I can stand to step down a little bit here."

"OK…" said Olivia, dubious. But she knew not to press the issue. They walked on in silence.

At school, Ray Beech was grateful that the one benefit of a broken leg was that he didn't have to go to morning soccer practice. Those runs were insane, and he was glad to get a little extra shut-eye, especially after how late he got home the night before.

_And what a night it was! That hot, amazing chick actually wants me back!_

But Ray did not know how this would play out at school. Though he was never without a girl, at least whenever he wanted one, he was never the kind of sap-tastic guy to wander the hallways holding hands with one. He'd spent plenty of time in Lovers' Cove, the space under one of the stairways where couples snuck in alone time during the school day. But he didn't _do_ public displays of affection. That was bush league behavior, not the kind of thing that a pro player, and the king of the school, would do.

But he also knew that whenever Stella was around, he couldn't stand to not be near her. And now that they'd sealed the deal with history's most amazing kiss the night before, he didn't think he could ever play it cool around her, though playing the sap to some girl would be social suicide.

_Scott did it without much harm to his rep. And besides, Stella is not 'some girl.'_

Ray decided stop thinking about it. He went to his locker and prepared for his day.

When he closed the locker door, Patty was on the other side of it. Ray let out an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Patty?"

Patty said, "Look, I think you've been all out of sorts lately, and probably hopped up on pain pills, and so…" she touched his arm, "I've decided to forgive you!" She ran her fingers up and down his arm. He looked down at them in disgust. "Come on, Ray Baby. This little fight is just so silly." She reached up with her other hand and ran her fingers through his hair.

This was the moment that Stella, Olivia, and Wen arrived at school. Ray's crutches were impossible to miss, even though he and Patty were all the way down the hallway from the entrance. The morning sun reflected off of the crutches and sent sparkles down the hall. All three of the freshmen stopped in their tracks at the sight of Patty fawning over Ray. Olivia's heart sank. _Poor Stella! He already went back to being a pumpkin! _

Wen tried to deflect the moment. "Hey, Stell, we're gonna be late for first period." He walked one step in the direction of their class, hoping that she would follow him.

Instead, Stella froze and stared. Patty and Ray did not see her. Stella did not see Ray's reaction to Patty. She only saw every one of Patty's fingers in physical contact with Ray's arm and face.

Olivia mouthed to Wen, "What are we gonna do?" Wen shrugged helplessly.

Olivia tried to talk to Stella. "Stella, sweetie? Stella?" Stella remained frozen and staring.

Then, Stella acted. She set down her backpack, stood up straight, and bellowed, "PAAAAAAAAAATTY! HEY! PATTY!" She started to walk briskly toward them. The entire hallway froze in their tracks and turned to face and listen to Stella. Patty pretended to just barely hear her, as if she were a fly pestering her ear. She lazily turned away from Ray and said, "What do you want, freshman? I'm busy."

Still halfway down the hall from them, Stella bellowed her reply, "TAKE YOUR GRIMY, MANICURED HIDEOUS LITTLE CLAWS OFF OF **MY BOYFRIEND**!"

Wen and Olivia were _thrilled_. "There's our girl!" said Olivia.

Patty was not thrilled. She said, "Omigod! Are you totally delirious?" she turned back to Ray. He was smiling. In fact, this was the happiest that Patty had ever seen Ray Beech allow himself to show. With his thumb and forefinger, he lifted her hand off of his arm as if it were a piece of smelly, leaking trash, and he dropped it away from him. He did the same thing to her other hand that was resting on his neck. He said, "You should probably do what she says. You really don't want to get her angry."

"You _can't _be serious," said Patty, her face full of disgust.

Ray shrugged. "I am," he said. "Her delicate, soft-spoken nature won me over. What can I say? I'm just a total sucker for the sweet, quiet ones."

Patty curled her nose, turned in disgust, and marched away. Ray gave a little "toodle-oo" wave to her back.

By that time, Stella had reached him. "Darling!" he said to her.

"And YOU!" she wasn't finished with her rampage, and Ray was not happy to be the new recipient of her anger. "Yes, dear?" he said, hoping to sound like he was faking fear.

Stella said, "Listen: either we're together, or we aren't! And if we're together, it's ALL THE TIME, not just when you feel like it! Is that clear?"

"Yes, dear," he said. He hung his head, presumably in shame, but mostly to hide the same silly grin from the night before, the one that refused to leave his face when he realized that Stella returned his feelings for her.

"OK," she said, much calmer. "Now, knock me some suga'." She stuck out her cheek and tapped it with her index finger for him to kiss. This was very funny, but Ray decided that it was definitely time for him to take charge of the situation. He shook his head and said, "uh-uh." He pulled her in for a real kiss, right there, in the crowded hallway, in front of the whole crowd that had just played audience to Stella's show.

"Th-that's b-etter," she stammered. She took one step back from him and nearly tripped on his crutch. "Woah there, tiger, don't want you to fall." Ray put out his arm to steady her, all the while smiling at his ability to make her lose her composure. But she did the same thing to him, every time she was anywhere near him. He just had the good luck of crutches to lean on and help him steady his balance.

"I'm going to class now," said Stella. She took a few steps away from Ray before he stopped her. "Hey, Stella?"

"Yeah?" she said.

Then, he lifted one of his crutches and banged it repeatedly against the lockers. Everyone looked in their direction again. "LISTEN UP, PEOPLE!" Ray shouted. "THIS LITTLE HOTTIE FRESHMAN AND GUITAR GODDESS IS _MY GIRLFRIEND! _GOT IT?"

Some people said, "OK." Some girls sighed, "Awww, how sweet!" (the same ones who thought, "What a freak!" when Stella had her speech). Several people grumbled, "We got the memo when she said it!"

Stella grinned at Ray. Ray approached her and said quietly, "I love you, you awesome nut!" She replied, "I love you, too, you boisterous freak!"


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 6**

Olivia was always the first to arrive at practice. Her 6th period was in the music department (Miss Reznik signed her up for a guitar class so that she could play more in the band). She usually went to the practice room and worked on writing new music. On the nicer days, she stayed outside to enjoy the sun while waiting for her friends.

This was such a day. She was having some trouble with a song, and she thought that the fresh air would help clear her mind.

However, the problem was not the air. So much had happened in the past couple of weeks. She was still processing it all. She was overjoyed to be with Wen, that he knew all there was to know about her and still wanted to be her boyfriend. But, over time, would he eventually tire of a girl with such a broken home?

Then there was Stella, more specifically, Stella-and-Ray. What? Was? That? Furthermore, he was now going to be connected into Lemonade Mouth? Olivia was certain that no good was going to come if this. He seemed nicer these days, and Stella was happy with him, for now. Furthermore, the song he wrote for them, "Good Interrupted", was terrific. Nevertheless, Olivia was skeptical that this change in Ray was not going to last. She was going to stay on her guard, to be ready for him to revert to his old self.

But she had to clear those thoughts from her mind so that she could concentrate on this song. It was not working. The wording wasn't right, or maybe the topic was wrong. The rhymes were immature. Normally, Olivia was an artist with words. She was always in the top English classes, and was typically bored in them because she had already read all of the literature years before. So, she spent most of her class time writing. But this song was just stumping her.

Olivia found her spot of concrete and sat against the door of Lemonade Mouth's practice room. She looked over her lyrics for the hundredth time and frowned. Then, a familiar shadow came over her. Instinctively, Olivia readied herself for whatever harm was about to come to her.

Ray was pretty sure he had agreed to be a part of Lemonade Mouth the previous night. But he was so out in the stratosphere over Stella that he would have agreed to swallowing burning coals at that point. Nevertheless, he was intrigued at the proposition. He had planned to study business in college, and managing a band would give him incredible experience. He loved writing music, and Stella was right about Mudslide Crush pretty much being over. Lemonade Mouth did do the song he wrote them justice. And they'd probably let him sing sometimes. He would still have to think it over, but he could probably do this. If so, he figured that he should probably start going to their rehearsals.

Ray's sixth period was soccer practice. Because of his busted leg, he was excused from it. So, when the team headed to the showers at the end of the period, he headed over to Lemonade Mouth's rehearsal space. When he got there, he saw Olivia sitting in front of the door. She was lost in whatever she was working on in her notebook. She didn't even notice him approach until he was directly in front of her.

"Hey, Olivia."

She stiffened. Ray recognized that response. It was what the small freshmen did whenever he was about to toss them into a trashcan or stuff them into a locker. This reaction used to amuse Ray. It did not today. In fact, Ray found himself repulsed by it.

_It's going to take this one some time to warm up to me._ He could hardly blame her. Up until last night, every single interaction that Ray Beech had had with Olivia White was with the intention of humiliating her.

Ray had already apologized to her the night before. Further apologies would not only be fruitless, but they would be insulting. He needed a different tact.

"How is it that someone can perform in front of a crowd of thousands but then get completely frightened by conversation with one person?"

Olivia replied, guarded, "It's the difference between intentions of affection and those of contempt."

"Fair enough," said Ray. Then, nodding at her notebook, he said, "Are you working on a song?"

Olivia hugged it against her chest and snapped, "It's personal."

"But," said Ray, careful not to sound sarcastic or condescending, "if you intend to perform it, it won't be personal anymore."

"Well, I haven't decided if we're going to perform this one."

"OK," he said. That was all. He said nothing more. He did not grab the notebook from her. He did not make a snarky comment about her song-writing skills. He said nothing more.

Regardless of her personal opinion of Ray, Olivia knew that he was great with lyrics. He could be the one to save this song. However, she was worried, and she was frightened of making herself vulnerable to someone who had been such a villain to her. But she loved Stella dearly, and she wanted to support her friend. Olivia decided to take a leap of faith. She sighed, and released her notebook to Ray.

Ray couldn't believe what he was reading. The song was called "Phoenix." It was a sort of duet, structured as a letter from a man in prison to his daughter, and her response as she is read it. The mother died when the girl was very young, and the father fell apart, landing him in prison. Though raised by a loving grandmother, the girl was essentially an orphan. In the chorus, she said that she was a phoenix, reborn from the ashes of her past, that in spite of, because of, the pain, she had risen, great and strong and wonderful. Her tone changed over the course of the song, and she found her way to forgive her father and find even greater strength because of it.

_This can't possibly be true._ "Where did you get this story from?" He knew that Olivia was constantly reading, so he assumed that she wrote a song based on one of her novels.

Olivia looked at Ray through narrowed eyes. "Stella didn't tell you about me?"

"No."

"Stella is a loyal friend. And a good person. And-"

"Look, I know you don't trust me. But I really do care about her. I won't hurt her." Then, Olivia's previous words suddenly dawned on Ray. "Wait a second. This song is about you?"

Olivia looked away. Her head moved in the faintest nod.

"Oh. I had no idea." Ray didn't know what else to say. All this time, he had assumed that Olivia came from a family of scholars, maybe a librarian and a school teacher. He had no idea of her pain and loneliness. He was reminded of something else Stella had told him one night in the hospital, about the people he had enjoyed pushing around: "…_you don't know what they're going through in their own lives_…" Again, she was right.

He looked at Olivia's song again, this time with a critical writer's eye. "I think it's a little bit too wordy."

"I was thinking the same thing." Before she knew it, Olivia found herself in conversation with Ray over the song. "But I thought that perhaps it could be rapped."

"I don't think so. Leave that to the hip-hop plebs. This needs to be sung."

"Like the country 'plebs'?" Olivia couldn't believe that she was brave enough to tease Ray, even if just that tiny bit.

"No, because you're going to keep this as rock. Besides, Johnny Cash was a genius, so it's ok to pay him tribute."

Because of his cast, Ray couldn't sit down next to Olivia on the ground. So, she stood up and opened the door to the practice room for them. They found a couple of desks and got to work.

"Who did you have in mind to sing the male part?"

"Well, when I had it as a rap, Wen, of course."

"No, that's not gonna work."

"Why?"

Ray just raised an eyebrow at her. His old self would have said, "Uh, does the word 'creepy' make any sense to you?"

But Olivia got it, and she blushed a little bit. "Oh, yeah, right. That's no good."

"What does Delgado's voice sound like?" he asked.

"It's good. It'll work."

Ray found a pencil and began to write on her lyrics, crossing parts out, replacing phrases, and moving lines around. Olivia watched as he worked, and she nodded in agreement with his changes. "That makes a lot more sense," she said.

The other members of the band arrived at rehearsal at around the same time. They were completely astounded at the sight that greeted them as they opened the door: Olivia White and Ray Beech working together out of the same notebook, speaking calmly and politely to one another.

"Hey…guys?" said Wen.

Olivia looked up and smiled, "Hi!"

Stella was directly behind Wen. She and Ray made eye contact and exchanged a shy smile. After that morning's very public display, they both felt a little bit quieter by the afternoon.

Charlie, Mo, and Scott poured in behind them and started warming up. Stella shushed them.

"Hey, guys, I think Olivia has a new song."

"Can we have a look?" asked Scott. Olivia passed them her notebook. Everyone crowded in to read it. They were stunned. They looked at each other, and then at her. Stella was the first to speak.

"Olivia, are you sure you want to be this public?"

Olivia shrugged. "I'm not sure. But I was thinking that maybe someone, somewhere, in some kind of similar situation, could maybe be helped by not feeling like they're alone…"

Wen furrowed his brow. Because Olivia was so quiet and so timid, even he often forgot that she was the strongest one out of all of them. "I think it will be a great song, Liv," he said quietly. Olivia looked at Wen and smiled gratefully.

"OK, well let's work out the structure of it," said Stella, turning down her amp and finding a chair for herself.

The band spent the next hour working over the song together. Charlie was honored but surprised that he was going to sing it. He never really considered himself a singer. But he welcomed the challenge. Though the emotional depth of the song was typically more suited to Mo's voice style, everyone agreed that Olivia should sing the female part, because she would give it the personal touch naturally.

At around 4:30, Stella said, "I gotta go now."

"So soon?" said Mo. "Usually Friday goes until at least 8…"

"Well…I've….got plans," said Stella.

Ray smiled.

Wen was a little bit dense sometimes. He said, "What? Hot date?" and then "OH! Yeah, uh, right."

Everyone began to pack up. Then, Charlie spoke. "Hey, um, guys?" Everyone stopped and looked him.

"We never really discussed how to handle interviews, and I did that one a few weeks ago alone because we were finding Ray's parents. But I think that maybe we should probably tell each other when we do interviews…" Everyone nodded in agreement. Charlie continued. "Yeah, so, well, uh, as it turns out, I kinda agreed to do another interview."

Mo was immediately on her guard. "Charlie? With whom?"

"Remember Stacy? From Azure? And the other interview?"

"Yes, of course I do," said Mo. She did not sound happy about this.

"Well, last night, after the show, she asked me to do another one. And since she was a big part of why so many people came to the club…"

"Charlie, they would have come without her all-call," said Mo.

"Anyway, I said yes."

"Charlie! Why?" said Mo.

"Because we should be accessible to our fans," said Charlie, a little bit defensive.

"But Charlie," said Mo, "that's more of a groupie site. They're going to ask you personal questions, and…"

"Mo, cut it out," said Scott. "Fans are fans, and Charlie can give interviews if he wants to." Scott sounded like his patience was reaching its end point.

Ray asked, "up to speed, please?"

"There's this fan site, and they have a 'We Love Charlie' night, and Charlie gave them an interview because the girl who runs the site helped us find your parents," said Wen, as quickly as possible.

"OK, so?"

"Mo is worried that the girl is going to get the wrong idea about Charlie if he spends too much time with her."

"Which is?"

"She'll start to think that they're dating."

"That's a leap," he said. "SEE?" everyone else said to Mo. But, then Ray said, "But it's not out of the realm of possibility." Everyone knew that he spoke from experience.

"SEE?" said Mo back to everyone else.

"But what's the problem with that?" Ray asked.

Scott said, "I have no idea, man."

Wen said, "not a clue."

Mo said, "You're guys! You don't get it!" She then launched again into her theory about giving the band a bad reputation if one of the guys was seen as a player. "Or worse, that all sorts of girls will start hanging around, just to see if they can have a shot with one of the guys too…"

"OK, yeah, see, that's _really _not a problem," said Wen. He shot a wicked grin at Olivia, so that she knew that he was joking.

"Uh, guys?" said Charlie. "There's more."

"What is it?" asked Mo, readying herself for more bad news.

"Well…it's going to be a live feed."

"WHAT? CHARLIE! You can't do it!" said Mo.

"Why?" asked Charlie. The truth was that he didn't want to do it, but Mo's reaction angered him even more than his desire to get out of the interview.

"Yeah, why?" asked Scott.

"They're going to spend the entire time asking you about your love life."

"Well, then, I guess it'll be a short interview, then, won't it?" Charlie tried to conceal his bitterness. And his friends were kind enough to pretend not to notice.

"Stop!" said Stella. "Look, this is very easily solved. We'll help Charlie get through the interview."

"How?" asked Wen.

"Olivia, you're the most creative one. Could you go onto this girl's site and invent a person to create a profile, and subscribe?"

"I think so," said Olivia.

"OK, then, Wednesday, we'll go to Charlie's. We'll sign in on Wen's laptop as the fake subscriber, and whenever the questioning goes awry, we'll ask more 'appropriate' questions." At the word "appropriate", she made finger quotes, and she made a face at Mo. Stella also thought that Mo was over-reacting to this, that the fans should do and say what they wanted. "Also, we'll coach Charlie with answers to anything that he has trouble with."

"But it's supposed to be just Charlie," Wen pointed out.

"Wen, it's not hard to hide from a web cam. Also, we can tell her that his mike doesn't work and that he'll have to type in his replies to the questions. That'll buy us time to come up with good ones."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"All right, I really gotta jet now!" and Stella left. Ray followed her.

Once outside, Ray said to Stella, "Why do you keep calling yourself stupid?"

"Because I am."

"Stupid people can't problem-solve like that."

"Oh, I was just the first one to speak up."

"No one had figured that out. You have a gift you know."

"Well, as soon as the school has a class called Wrangling Your Bickering Friends 101, I'll ace it and then bring up my straight-C report card."

Ray shook his head. "You just don't get it."

"I've gotta go make myself all purty cuz this super hot guy is taking me out tonight. Bye!" She walked away.


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm so sorry this took so long! Family and then work obligations pulled me away from my fun here. I hope the length of this chapter makes up for all the time it took me to get it to you. There is much Stella/Ray happy squishy warmth here._

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 7**

Stella burst into her house, happy to note that it was one of the rare evenings that both of her parents were home.

"Mom! Dad! I'm so glad to see you!"

Stella's parents exchanged a look. "Hi, sweetie. How was school?" asked her mother.

"It was fine. But here's the thing. Remember that guy that I had to go sit with in the hospital?"

"Yeeeees," said her dad. "Is he feeling better? He was discharged, right?"

"Yeah, he was," said Stella. And now, she had no idea how she was going to get this next part out. _A guy who is two years older than I is taking me out, in his car, and we're in love, oh and by the way, we were mortal enemies a few weeks ago._ She did what any rational person in her position would do: give as little information as possible.

"So, uh, as it turns out, he's uh, taking me out tonight. And he'll be here at 6."

"How is he getting here?" asked Mr. Yamada.

"He's driving…" Here's where Stella began to get nervous.

"How old is he?"

"He's a junior, Dad. He's a musician, like me! He totally helped out the band last night. And his dad owns Turbo Blast."

"Really?" said her mom.

_Oh no, here it comes._ Because Stella's mother was in the business of saving the planet, she knew everything about every major company's planet responsibility, or lack thereof. If Turbo Blast was leaving a huge carbon footprint, then Stella and Ray were doomed.

"They're an incredibly responsible company!" said her mother. Stella couldn't contain her sigh of relief. Her mom continued. "Their delivery trucks are run on natural gas, their production plant produces very little emissions, and all of their packaging is made of recycled materials."

"So, then, I can go out on a date with him?"

"My 14-year-old daughter can go on a date with a 16-year-old boy?" said Mr. Yamada.

"Um, yes? And I'm going to be 15 next week…" said Stella, feeling smaller as she looked to her dad for his approval. Thankfully, Stella's mother intervened.

"Oh, honey, he probably wants to thank her for all the help she gave him in the hospital. I think it is very kind and gentlemanly of him to take her out like this."

_Mom, you're a goddess!_

Her father acquiesced. "All right."

"Yippee!" said Stella, and she bolted to her room to get ready.

An hour later, Ray pulled up to the house. He couldn't believe it, but he actually felt nervous. For the thousandth time in the past few weeks, he reprimanded himself. _This is ridiculous. You're a genius with adults, especially girls' parents._ It was true. Ray had a gift of charming parents into trusting him with their daughters.

This time was different. This time, Ray needed to be himself. He didn't want to simply be allowed to take a girl out for a night. He was in for the long haul with Stella, and he needed her parents to know – and like –the real him.

The problem was, Ray didn't quite know who the real him was anymore. He was changing, but was he? For years, he had been deeply engrossed in his persona as Supreme Ruler of the School and Soccer Field and Stage. That person was a character, not a real human being. It seems that now, these layers were being stripped away, and the real Ray Beech was emerging.

As lovely as that was, it did him no good right now. Ray was so used to being the character he had so diligently developed, that he had forgotten how to be himself, whoever that was. And he was going to have to be himself when meeting Stella's parents, or there was no way that they would have a chance at a future together.

_Future? _Ray shook his head. This was crazy, all of it. And yet, he was pretty pleased with the way that this kind of crazy made him feel. It went beyond the feverish bliss that first embraces with a new love brings. Even before he had secured Stella's affections, Ray had already begun to genuinely enjoy _not_ being unkind to everyone around him.

That afternoon, for example, he had earned Olivia's trust. He now knew her well enough to understand that that was not easily done. That he had accomplished this sparked a warmth inside of him that he hardly recognized.

Ray felt as if he were shedding his old bully self like a snake does to its dried skin. _But that still leaves you with a snake._ He would have to come up with a better mental analogy, as soon as he could discover what creature was going to emerge from the distasteful behavior that he was leaving behind.

For now, however, he needed to focus on the task at hand: making a good impression on Stella's parents.

Thankfully, Stella answered the door. His breath caught at the sight of her. She was wearing a short, red sundress, and she looked spectacular. She greeted him quickly with a smile and ushered him into the house. Her tone and movement suggested that she, too, was nervous. Before she led him into the living room, she said, "Heads up: they are both Dr. Yamada." Ray said, "Huh?" Stella clarified, "You already know that my dad is a medical doctor. My mom is a PhD in environmental science." "OK," he said, making the necessary mental note.

Then, they entered the living room, where Stella's parents were waiting. Stella spoke, "Mom? Dad? This is Ray. Ray, this is my mom." Usually, Ray made some sort of comment about how he could see where the daughter got her beauty, etc. But with Stella's mother (even though he totally could see traces of Stella's beauty in her), Ray simply shook her hand and said, "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Yamada."

"This is my dad." Ray turned to Stella's father and greeted him in the same way.

"So," Stella's father began, "You're a junior?"

"Yes, sir." Ray always addressed the fathers as "sir", but this time, his respect was sincere.

"Have you given thought to life after high school?"

"Yes, sir, I have. I want to study business in college and then either work with my father in his company, or perhaps in the entertainment industry. I did some managing work for my band last year, and recently, Mr. Gifford has invited me to help out with Lemonade Mouth."

"OK, daddy, I think we have a dinner reservation," said Stella. She had no idea where they were going, but she wanted to get the heck out of there.

Stella's father was not quite done with Ray. "Broken leg? How do you drive?"

Stella's mother answered for Ray, "with his left foot, dear, just like you did last summer."

_Woo-hoo! _Stella adored her mother!

Stella again made an effort to leave. This time she was successful. She gave each of her parents their good-bye hug/kisses, and whispered a "thank-you!" to her mom. "See you later!" She said.

As they were leaving, they could hear the twins running to their parents and complaining over some fight they were having.

"You're not an only child?" asked Ray.

"Hardly." said Stella. "My twin brothers are 11 and in 8th grade. They'll be at school with us next year."

"No way!"

"Yeah."

Ray was beginning to see why Stella had such a poor perception of her intellect. "But can they run a band, solve their friends' disputes, play guitar and sing on national television, and-"

"And land the hottest guy in school? I know where you're going with this one, Beech." She smiled at him and shook her head.

_He cleaned up nicely! _He had traded in his usual graphic t-shirt for a white button shirt with some faint grey stitching on it. It suited him. "Your shirt has buttons," she said.

"Your pants are torn in the middle," he replied. She was happy that he noticed her dress.

He opened the car door for her. After they were both settled in their seats, and he had begun to drive, he finally felt relaxed. He kept stealing glances at her, enjoying her stunning beauty, and the fact that she put herself together like that just for him.

Stella also couldn't keep her eyes to herself. He just looked so _good_, and he made himself look this good for her. His shirt, clean shave, showered and re-styled hair. There he was, all sparkly and pretty, and he was all hers.

She eventually noticed that he was looking at her, often. She smiled.

They pulled up to a restaurant called Aunty's Garden.

"I've never heard of this place," she said.

Ray said, "Me neither. But Yelp says that they have a good vegetarian menu."

Stella couldn't pretend to play this cool. She faced him, jaw dropped. "How did you know I'm a vegetarian?"

"Scott told me. Will it offend you if I eat meat?"

OK, this was just too strange. He was asking permission to eat meat? The old Ray would have filled her locker with raw chicken and steaks upon learning that Stella was a vegetarian. This was unbelievable, wonderful, but unbelievable.

She couldn't reply to his question because she still couldn't close her mouth. She shook her head and finally got out an "uh-uh."

There was enough of old Ray around to delight in shocking people with his new behaviors. "Close your mouth, dear, you're going to catch flies." He put his hand on her back and led her into the restaurant.

After dinner, he asked, "Do you have a curfew?"

She said, "I don't, but it's because I've never pushed the envelope with getting home. And, as you already saw, Dad's kinda freaking out about someone who's old enough to drive taking out his only daughter. So, I should probably be back before midnight."

"That's plenty of time. There's this place I want you to see."

Though Stella loved the idea of getting more time alone with Ray, she was also a bit nervous that he was going to take her to a make-out spot. She still had some concerns about falling into the category of another girl on his list of conquests.

To Stella's relief, they pulled into the parking lot of a coffee house. Though she frequently went out for coffee with her mother, Stella had not heard of Minnie 'n Joe's.

"You're going to love this place," said Ray. "I've only been here a couple of times, and it is great!"

It was fairly small, a standard coffee house. However, the space near the front window was cleared as a stage, the chairs and small tables all situated with a view of the stage space.

Ray explained, "There is music here almost every night. And it is almost always something unusual. None of that typical oh-so-indie pretentious coffee house crap."

That night was a vintage jazz group (their flyer referred to their style as "trad. jazz"). The 4 members played a variety of instruments, depending on the song: guitars, banjo, "gut bucket" (wash basin bass), harmonica, even the spoons! Their music sounded both brand-new and classic, at the same time. Stella loved it.

The waitress who brought them their drinks stopped short when she got a look at the two of them. She quickly re-gained her composure, and she said quietly, "I loved your new song last night."

Stella and Ray were surprised. "Thank-you!" Stella said. She was always sincerely happy to hear from fans.

The waitress addressed Ray, "Their style is so different from yours, but you managed to find the perfect way to combine the two."

Ray was not used to hearing such specific compliments, less so ones that displayed a level of musical knowledge. The most in-depth response he'd ever received after a Mudslide Crush show was, "You totally rock, man!" So, he'd grown accustomed to giving a half-hearted high-five to the guys or a semi-hug to the girls (maybe a full hug if they were hot). He was taken by surprise by this girl giving him a compliment on his music, for a song he didn't even sing. Furthermore, she didn't seem to be coming on to him (also a surprise to him).

He said, "Uh, thank-you!"

"Sorry, I'll stop babbling," said the waitress. "Just…thank-you for coming to our place."

"Our?" said Stella.

"This is my parents' place. They're Minnie and Joe. But it's a double meaning, referring to a bunch of Cab Calloway songs that a lot of fans call the Minnie and Joe Saga."

The name sounded familiar to Stella. She asked, "Wait, wasn't there an early punk duo called Minnie and Joe?"

"That's them! They thought they were capturing the anything-goes spirit of early punk by playing subversive lyrics but in a folk style, thinking that it would be a clever way to make fun of hippies. They had marginal success from people with a very specific sense of humor. But the rest of the world wasn't quite ready for kitsch factor in music yet. They were before their time."

"Did they open this place in order to perform?" asked Ray.

"Sort of, but mostly to be a welcome venue to other off-the-beaten-path musicians."

Stella said, "That is so cool! Oh man, I'm so rude! What's your name?" and she extended her hand to the waitress.

"I'm Veronica." She shook Stella's hand. "Actually…my best friend, Stacy, interviewed Charlie a couple of weeks ago for her blog."

"She's the one doing the live feed next week?"

"Yeah…" said Veronica. Before she could say any more, a woman from behind the front counter called, "Ronnie!"

"That's Mom. It's nice to meet you!" And she left.

The band went on break. Stella said to Ray, "OK, this is one of the coolest places anyone has ever taken me to!"

"I can't believe you've heard of her parents," he said.

"I'm obsessed with anything remotely related to punk, especially the early days."

Ray looked at the instruments left on the stage by the musicians. He looked back at Stella. "I have an idea. Wait here."

He talked to one of the musicians. Stella couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw the man nod. Then, Ray motioned Veronica over to their table.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Would it be all right if Stella and I played just one song during the band's break?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course!"

Stella raised an eyebrow. "What are you up to, Beech?"

Ray took Stella's hand, leaned in closer to her, and he said, "I think that you and I should play 'Good Interrupted' together, just us." He stared intently into her eyes.

"I can't refuse that," she said.

They approached the stage area and took two seats. Ray handed Stella a guitar. He said, "I think it should be slow." She nodded in agreement.

Veronica took a mike and said, "Folks, we have a surprise treat tonight! Stella Yamada from Lemonade Mouth and Ray Beech from Mudslide Crush are here. They're going to sing a new song, which you will love." She handed the mike to Ray before she ran back to the kitchen to get her parents to watch.

Stella began to play. When Ray began to sing, she almost stopped playing. She had heard him sing before, but had always listened through angry ears. Now, she realized how beautiful his voice was. But the truth was that he had never sung like this before. She wanted to just listen to him. Ray also wanted to just listen to Stella. He had never heard her play acoustic before, and he was surprised at how delicate and yet soulful she could sound. He's be happy to put down the mike let her take over, but he also needed for her to hear him sing this song.

They quickly got over their surprise at hearing each other in this new light, and they re-gained the focus that both of them were famous for, when it came to their music. They locked into each other, voice and music perfectly intertwined. When Ray sang the bridge, the last words were barely a whisper. _My place…with you._ A lump caught in Stella's throat when she heard him. She looked up in order to catch a glimpse of his beautiful face. She found that he was staring intently at her, that he had been the entire song.

The song was very well-received by the Minnie and Joe's crowd. Stella was suddenly shy, an unusual feeling for her. She found a way to quickly bow and smile at the audience, and then she left the stage area.

She felt a now-familiar warmth near her ear as Ray had come up behind her. He said quietly, "You wanna get out of here?" Stella nodded.

They thanked Veronica. She said, "That was amazing." Seeing Stella's expression, she said to Ray as they were leaving, "I'm honored to see that one-and-only performance that no one else will know about." Stacy was going to kill her for not telling her about this, but something in Stella's face told Veronica that everyone had just accidentally seen an incredibly intimate moment. Even though Veronica had known Stacy all of her life, and she had only just met Stella and Ray, Veronica still felt a moral responsibility to give them their privacy. As far as the Minnie and Joe's crowd was concerned, they probably would forget about this as soon as the band started up again.

Ray gave her a smile in thanks as he left.

Back in Ray's car, they were silent. He drove to someplace a little bit secluded. He turned off the engine and faced Stella. He could see a tear peaking out of the corner of her eye.

"What is it?" he asked, alarmed. _Crap. What the hell do you do when a girl cries? _He echoed the panicked thoughts of every man since the dawn of humanity.

Stella quickly reached up and shoved the tear away. "I'm all right. I'm fine. It's ok," she said.

"OK," he said, greatly relieved, initially. However, he was a bit curious. And truth be told, he was a little bit worried.

Ray put his hand on Stella's arm. He said nothing. He looked at her face, and he saw that trace of tear peaking out of the corner of her eye again.

"Hey," he said, his concern softening his tone. He reached up and took the tear away with his thumb. His hand remained on her face, and he gently turned her toward him. "What is it?"

Stella hesitated, but then she spoke. "This is a lot, and very fast," Stella began, "and sometimes I'm alarmed by all of it." Then, the words came tumbling out all at once. "I mean, we hated each other, I mean, _hated _each other just a few weeks ago. And now, even before last night, my heart aches when I'm away from you. When I'm near you, I feel a fire inside of me all lit up. It's all so intense, that it almost frightens me."

"What? What frightens you?"

"Well, that loss of self-control. I think I would be perfectly happy to just be near you, regardless of how you feel. So, that puts me in the potentially ugly spot of being yet another girl who pines for you. And I can't stand that about myself."

"OK, but why did this start while we were playing the song together?"

"I was completely lost in the beauty of the song, and in your voice. I mean, I felt as if I could use your voice as a blanket and just wrap myself all up in it. Then, I looked at you, and you were looking at me, all, like, intensely. I felt as if you could see right through me. It took me by surprise."

She went on, "You said you don't do these kinds of conversations. You told me that when we were alone together. But then there you go and sing like that and look at me like that, in front of a room full of strangers. I don't get it, which makes me think that maybe I don't get you, that all of this will evaporate in an instant."

"I'd fall apart if it did." Ray said that before he could think about his words carefully. He didn't like for people to know the inner workings of his mind and especially of his heart. _That's for saps._ Keeping himself at arm's distance was what gave him the edge that put him ahead of his fellow teenagers.

It was a small and simple sentence. But it was the most exposed Ray had ever allowed himself to be to a girl. This was bigger than telling Stella that he loved her.

_I'd better go all-in at this point. _Ray turned to face Stella. He took both of her hands in one of his hands, and he rested the other hand on her cheek. He said to her, "Look, I know we have an unusual past. But I also think it's what makes us perfect for each other. You keep me in my place. But much better than that is that you are the most incredible girl I have ever met. You are an amazing musician. You're beautiful, inside and out."

Stella interrupted, "But really, what makes you say that?"

"Stella, you visited me, your worst enemy, in the hospital, because you wanted to help your friend. And then you came back every day. Except for Scott, all of my friends, and even my girlfriend, visited me once, and they couldn't wait to get the hell out of Dodge once they got there. But you kept coming back, and you bent over backwards to help me in every way you could."

"It was needed, and I was the one who could do it. It's not like I wanted to…at first. And then I did want to…see you and be near you."

"Stella, you pour all of your heart into everything and everyone you care about. And now, I get to be one of those recipients of all of you! Why in the world would I ever want to lose that?"

Stella shrugged, but she let a small smile escape.

"Stella, I _love _you. Not, 'I think you're hot' (but I do). Not, 'we should hang out.' I. Love. You. This is all new for me, too. And I'm a total idiot sometimes (don't let that get around). I'm sorry I left you exposed like that in front of all those people. But when I'm around you, I can't help myself. You know that fire in you? I feel that, too. But then, when you're nearer to me, and knowing that you care about me, too, there are fireworks. You make everything inside of me melt away, and you make everything outside of me better, greater, than it ever was before."

Stella smiled. Ray kissed her, and kissed her, and kissed her. And Stella, too, felt fireworks.


	8. Chapter 8

I'm so sorry I've been so slow on this story! It was time for me to go back to work, and so my daily writing time is limited. Also, this story isn't coming to me as quickly as the other one did. But it's finally starting to take shape! I promise I'll try to be faster.

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 8**

On Saturday morning, all the members of the band received the same text message from Olivia:

"Hi guys! We still on for tonight?"

Charlie groaned as he rolled out of bed, but he replied, "Of course!"

Olivia wanted everyone to go to a choir concert together. This was not Charlie's style of music, and he assumed that it was going to be a deathly dull evening. But she said it would be helpful for the band to be exposed to some different types of music, and that it could help their writing. He was willing to keep an open mind, especially for one of his best friends.

"OK, meet at the park at 5?"

"OK!"

At Olivia's house, she was running around the kitchen, preparing a picnic dinner for her friends. She knew that they had no interest in this concert, and that they were going just to humor her. So, she felt that the least she could do was feed them.

At 4:30, the Giffords' truck pulled up. Olivia greeted Wen at the door, lugging the enormous picnic basket.

"What did you make, Thanksgiving?" said Wen, taking the basket from her.

"Enough for 7 people, 4 of whom are boys. So, basically, enough for about 12 people."

Mr. Gifford drove them to the park where the concert was. "Guys, I have some news for you," he said.

"What's up, Dad?" asked Wen.

"I talked to Mel last night, and he said that they want to sponsor a Lemonade Mouth tour."

"No way!" Wen was excited. Olivia paled. Wen squeezed her hand.

Mr. Gifford continued. "We're going to get together to work out venues and dates. Once that is figured out, Mel's Organic Lemonade will throw a launch party to officially announce the tour."

"Can we go ahead and tell everyone else?" asked Wen.

"Of course!" said his dad.

When they arrived, Olivia began texting everyone else, to coordinate where they were going to sit. This was a concert in a park, so there was no official seating.

"Where's Ray?" she asked Stella. Olivia assumed that Ray was going to be a regular fixture now. She wasn't as unhappy about it as she had thought she might be. He was pleasant, helpful, and respectful to her the day before, in how he had dealt with her song. She thought that she might be able to accept him.

"He's not coming. He has 'a thing' with his parents tonight," said Stella.

"Lucky him!" said Scott. Mo smacked him.

They found a spot and set up their picnic, pouring thanks and praise onto Olivia. "Wow, Liv!", "Thanks, Olivia!", and "This is terrific!"

Olivia passed out programs as she said, "Look, I know that this isn't your first choice of how to spend a Saturday night. But the Southwestern Chorale is really terrific, and tonight's theme is fascinating. I think it can help us expand our song-writing ideas." To Charlie, she said, "And no, Charlie, we won't start doing choir music in Lemonade Mouth."

The papers Olivia handed everyone looked more like a collection of poetry than a concert program. Olivia explained. "Tonight's concert is choral adaptations of poetry. Choral arrangers write pieces that match the feel of the original poem, conveying the emotion of the piece. Poetry lends itself well to music, and many people argue that lyricists could be considered poets. Well, in this concert, poets become lyricists."

Mo looked over the program. "I recognize the names of the poets, but not the poems."

Scott replied, "I know most of these. My English class did the Whitman and Dickenson poems."

"And I know the Neruda poem," said Wen. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "What? Doesn't anyone else have Sr. Nevarra for Spanish?" They shook their heads.

"So what we need to do tonight," said Olivia, "is listen to the arrangements to see how they bring out the intended emphasis of the poems."

Stella replied, "OK, but why, Liv?"

"Well," said Olivia, "a couple of things. I think it's a good exercise to see how different styles of music work with connecting lyrics to music. It will expand our horizons!"

"And the second thing is…?" asked Stella.

Olivia looked a little bit sheepish. "I know we write all original pieces. But there's this poem that I think goes really well with what we stand for, and I think we could make a great song out of it."

"What poem is it?" asked Mo.

"It's a selection, the end, specifically, to a Tennyson epic, 'Ulysses.'"

Scott asked, "Is it the 'come, my friends…' part?"

Olivia nodded. Mo looked at Scott, jaw agape. He replied, "It's in 'Dead Poets Society'. We watched it in English class."

Olivia frowned. "That's too bad."

"Watching movies in school is _never_ a bad thing," said Charlie.

Olivia replied, "It's such a beautiful movie, and it's one of my family's favorites. I hate to see it belittled to something that people are forced to see in their English class."

"Charlie?" Everyone looked up to see a girl their age standing over them. Stella recognized her, and she said, "Hey! Veronica, right?"

Veronica said, "Yes." However, Veronica instantly regretted going over to them. She realized that maybe they were enjoying an evening of anonymity.

If that were the case, Stella certainly didn't show it. To her friends, Stella said, "Veronica's parents own the absolute coolest coffee house _ever._ We have to go there!"

Charlie said, "Hey…Stacy's friend, right?" He stood up so that she wouldn't feel awkward looming over them.

"That's right," she said, smiling. To Stella, she said, "I'm glad you like the place! I'll be sure to tell my parents."

"Yeah, but you're the one who finds the talent," said a voice from behind her. The boy was quite a bit taller than average, with dark wavy hair and glasses.

Veronica introduced the boy to the others. "This is Jordan, the president of our school's Music Appreciation Club. Jordan, these are Lemonade Mouth. They're a very fam-"

Jordan interrupted her, "Even a cave-dwelling worshipper of all things acoustic like me knows who Lemonade Mouth is! It's a pleasure to meet you."

Stella asked, "Did he just say that you book the musicians at your parents' place? Wow! They must trust you a lot!"

"They'd be insane not to," said Jordan. "Ronnie's a walking talking music encyclopedia! And she has this incredibly ability to find _any _musician in the area."

"Veronica…." said Scott, mentally turning over the name, "is that after the Elvis Costello song?"

"Thankfully not!" she said. "That's a pretty depressing song. I'm named after the saint."

Charlie nodded, vaguely remembering something about St. Veronica in his 1st Communion class in second grade. "Oh yeah…."

Everyone else had a blank expression on their face. Wen spoke up, "Uh, de-brief, please? Not all of us speak Catholic." Veronica and Charlie looked at the group; they were all nodding in agreement with Wen.

Veronica explained. "That is the name given to the woman who tended to Jesus when he was on his way to the cross. The whole crowd, enemies and former followers alike, had turned against him, and his closest friends were in hiding, for fear of being crucified as well. Then, out of this awful crowd, a woman stepped forward and cleaned his face with her own veil. She braved all of those people to do a small, kind act."

"That's beautiful!" said Olivia.

Veronica said, "My parents thought it would help me to always do the right thing, even if it goes against what everyone else is doing."

"And how's that working out for you?" said Mo.

Scott looked at her, appalled. "Woah!"

"Wow, Mo," said Stella. "Harsh much?"

Mo was immediately contrite. "I didn't mean it like that! What I meant was, it must be hard to live up to such a high expectation!"

Veronica came to Mo's defense. "I knew what you meant. It's common for people to think that, and I can definitely see that point of view, that it's a lot for a parent to expect of their child. And I'm sure there are people who wouldn't like that. But the way I see it, I'm honored that my parents have a high standard of my ethics, and that they have faith that I can keep to it. And knowing that about my parents ends up actually motivating me to stay at it."

Mo was deeply moved by Veronica's words. They hit so close to home for her. She often found it difficult to walk the line between her American self and her Indian self. She frequently felt as if she were letting her parents down, even though they never acted as if she were. Putting forth an extraordinary effort to not weep, she uttered, "That's lovely," and then she focused intently on her sandwich.

Olivia broke the tension of the moment by changing the subject. "Are you familiar with the music tonight?"

Veronica nodded. "I've heard recordings of most of them. I'm interested to see how the Southwestern Chorale handles them. My favorite is the Dickenson poem. It's a beautiful poem, but the arrangement is transcendent! That is, if it's done right."

"And what constitutes 'right'?" asked Jordan.

"Well, there can't be any vibrato in it. If it is sung in straight tones, the arrangement almost sounds like bells. And if the notes are accented right, the purity of the sound is almost haunting. Like the poem, it's a simple statement that has an enormous impact." Charlie stared at her, dumbfounded at her knowledge. Everyone else listened politely.

Veronica was immediately embarrassed. "Oh, there I go again! Sorry about that."

"Are you kidding? That was amazing!" said Charlie. "Seriously!" said Stella. "Now I totally know why your parents trust you with booking the musicians for your coffee house."

"Well, if this whole rock star thing doesn't work out for you, you're always welcome at Minnie 'n Joe's!" She said this with a wink and a smile. She said to the rest of the band, "It was great to meet you!"

Wen, Olivia, and Scott waved and returned her pleasantries. Mo smiled and waved, still too ashamed to speak.

"That was interesting stuff," said Charlie. "I have to admit, Olivia, I wasn't really into hearing a choir concert. But now I think I'll like it."

Olivia laughed. "I was pretty sure you weren't into it. But I love you guys so much for coming anyway!"

They settled in to hear the concert. Charlie's mind kept going back to what Veronica said, more specifically, the _way _she talked about music. Music was clearly her life's dearest love and passion. He didn't know anyone their age who knew as much about it, but there was something more to Veronica. There was a depth in her eyes and voice when she talked about music that Charlie found mesmerizing. It didn't hurt that she was also pretty cute, in spite of being a little strange in her style. But she was a fan, and according to Mo, that was a huge no-no. _Easy for Mo to throw down rules like that, she isn't lonely._ With some difficulty that surprised him, Charlie shook thoughts of Veronica out of his head and listened to the concert.

Elsewhere in the park, Saguaro High School's Music Appreciation Club sat in lawn chairs, watching the same concert. Veronica sat next to Jordan, her hand resting at the edge of her arm rest, as close to his hand as she could, hoping that he would take it. She did this at every M.A.C. outing. So far, no luck. Jordan always treated Veronica well, as a fellow music lover, and he respected her knowledge. But it ended there. He had no interest in her. Tonight, Veronica even made an effort to dress more feminine, to maybe catch his eye. He had said, "You look nice." That was hopeful…

Throughout the concert, Jordan leaned toward Veronica to talk to her. Each time, she got her hopes up that he would hold her hand, or ask her out, or tell her she was beautiful. Each time, she was disappointed. It was _all_ music-related. "That was a great chord!" or "Ouch, that note was sharp!" or "What do you think of the mezzo? Isn't she a bit shrill?" Veronica took what she could get from Jordan. Every time he leaned in, she inhaled, to smell his cologne. She even "accidentally" leaned too close a couple of times, so that she could bump into him and at least momentarily feel his face with hers. She always managed an apologetic giggle when she did: "Oops! Sorry!"

After the concert, Jordan offered Veronica a ride home. When they got to her house, Veronica thought of another ploy to give him the opportunity to make a move. "Hey, could you do me a favor and walk me up? All the trees in front of my house spook me out at night."

"Sure," he said. At the door, Veronica turned to Jordan and said, "Thank-you, Jordan! I had a great time tonight."

"Yeah, it was a good concert, huh?" he said. They hugged their friendly hug, and Jordan turned to leave. Then, he stopped, turned back to Veronica, and said, "Ronnie?"

"Yes?" _Is this it? Is this it? This is it!_

"Can I call you tomorrow? There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Of course!" she said. _Why wait? Ask me out now!_

"Great! OK, I'll talk to you tomorrow then!"

"OK!" she said.

Once inside, she immediately called Stacy.

"He wants to call me tomorrow! What does he want? Wouldn't he just ask me out tonight? Why wait until tomorrow?"

Stacy was an expert on All Things Boys. Unfortunately, she said, "I have no idea." Then she turned the conversation in the direction that Veronica _hated_. "Mac, what did you wear tonight?"

"I went girly," Veronica said, defensively, but she was not very convincing in her tone.

"Jeans?"

"No! In fact, I wore a skirt."

"No way! Impressive! Oh, wait, not the overseas missionary skirt?" Stacy had a nasty habit of nicknaming Veronica's clothing.

"Maybe…and it's not a missionary skirt. It's a cute khaki skirt."

"Whose length goes halfway down your calf and has no shape to it, so that you can always be modest, even in the wilds of the African jungle while you save souls!"

"No fair!" said Veronica.

"Well, all hope is not lost. What did you wear with it? PLEASE don't say the Grandma's hand-me-down sweater. For the love of all that is holy, DON'T say _that_ sweater!"

Silence.

"Maaaaac! You need to throw that crap away! You are fifteen, not fifty. No wait, fifty-year-olds dress hotter than you do."

"It's a nice pink sweater. And it isn't necessary to show all the goods up front, you know."

"True, but _you_ don't show _any _of the goods!" Stacy continued with the inquiry. "Ponytail?"

"No! I just pulled the sides back."

"Make-up?"

"Some lip gloss."

"I love you, but you're hopeless! Jordan is probably calling you to find out if you can renew his library card, since you dress like the president of the librarians' association."

"Unfair!" said Veronica.

"If you'll just let me…"

"For the last time, NO!"

"Come on! I just don't want to see my best friend die alone."

"Good night, Stacy."

"Good night, Sister Veronica."

"haha."

Just then, Veronica's phone buzzed an incoming text message. "Wait, hold on a second, Stacy." It was from Jordan: "You awake?"

"Stacy, it's from _him_!"

"OMIGOD! Call me right after to tell me what he wanted to talk about!"

"OK!" She hung up and replied to Jordan's text: "Yes. What's up?"

"I've been wanting to ask for awhile….but…I don't know if it will be ok."

"I'm sure it will be. What is it?"

"Your friend, Stacy. Is she single?"

Heartbroken, Veronica turned off her phone and went to bed. She didn't even put on music.

Little did Veronica know that there was someone, somewhere else, thinking about her and _not_ Stacy. As Charlie Delgado lay in bed that night, his mind kept drifting back to a certain young music lover whose spark couldn't be hidden under any amount of misshapen clothing. And he could see the kindness that honored her name: she smoothed over Mo's embarrassment, even though Mo had totally insulted her.

_Why did Mo do that, anyway? _It was odd to Charlie that Mo was so concerned about his fans, but not as much about Wen's or Scott's fans. Maybe it was because they weren't single, and therefore were in less danger of stirring up tabloid gossip? All the same, Charlie hated having to hear these from Mo. _Of all people_. It was bad enough that she only liked him as a friend, but that she also felt the need to limit the girls he _could_ date was too much.

_And why is dating a fan so bad? _None of the guys in Lemonade Mouth could figure that out. The girls chose to remain neutral in the issue, for the most part. But even they seemed to not agree wholeheartedly with Mo.

He was tired of these thoughts. Thankfully, his mind drifted back to more pleasant thoughts, and to a face that was becoming more pleasant the more he thought of it. _She's not at all a P.J…_ was Charlie's last coherent thought before falling asleep, a thought that made this officially the first night in countless months that Charlie's last conscious thought was not of Mo Banerjee.


	9. Chapter 9

Again, I'm so sorry to be so slow with this story.

I don't own Lemonade Mouth!

**Chapter 9**

Veronica was awakened by the house phone ringing. It was Stacy.

"Do you have any idea how late I waited up to hear from you last night?"

"You're always up late. Did you pass the hours I. or watching late-night comedians?"

"Both. But that's not the point. You were supposed to call me back!" Then, something dawned on her. "Or….was it that late of a convo? Spill it, baby!"

Veronica groaned. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on. You can talk to me. Let's go get ice cream! Ice cream makes everything better!"

_Not this._ "I gotta work."

"Then I'm gonna come keep you company."

This was the down side of working for your parents. You can't tell your best friend that your boss won't let her come to work with you, when your boss used to change her diapers.

"Bye, Stacy."

Veronica got dressed for work. If anything could cheer her up, it was Sunday brunch at Minnie 'n Joe's. It was a great crowd, a cross-section of punk followers from all the different time periods of the movement. It was an open mic, with Veronica's parents as the default, filling in when there weren't enough performers, or stepping in after a particularly bad performer to uplift the customers' spirits (and keep them from leaving). Veronica was an ardent people-watcher, and Minnie 'n Joe's on a Sunday was a people watcher's delight. Also, Veronica loved to watch her parents perform. They were talented, clever, and had great stage presence. Lemonade Mouth actually reminded Veronica of her parents: off stage, they were unassuming, quiet members of society, but on stage, they were electrified!

Mrs. McKenna was waiting for her daughter at the foot of the stairs, bran muffin in her outstretched hand. "Ready, sweetie?" she said. Veronica managed a weak smile, and took the muffin. Her mother knew right away that all was not right with Veronica, but Minnie McKenna also knew her daughter well enough to know that she would talk when she was ready.

They arrived at the coffee shop to the smell of various baked goods being prepared. A man in his fifties was busy at several tasks in the kitchen.

"_Guten morgen, Jurgen,"_ said Veronica. Jurgen spoke flawless English. But he was also kind enough to let Veronica practice her German with him. She was one of the few students in her school's dying German program.

"_Ah, guten morgen, Veronica! Wie gehts?"_

"_Gut danke,"_ she lied. But she didn't know how to say, "incredibly sad because the boy I've been dreaming about for over a year wants my best friend, like EVER OTHER STINKIN' BOY ON THE PLANET!" in German. So she stuck with "fine, thanks". She returned his query, _"Und Ienen?"_

"_Danke! Gut!"_

Veronica loved that Jurgen always thanked you for asking how he was before responding to the question. That level of politeness always uplifted her spirits a little bit, even now.

Jurgen Steinstrasse was Minnie 'n Joe's first employee. When Veronica was in elementary school, the McKennas worked tirelessly in order to get the coffee shop to earn enough income to sustain an employee. Their first official employee was a baker, to handle the early morning baking, so that Minnie and Joe could have their mornings with Veronica and give her a proper family life.

Although it was early, there were already customers. Before long, the whole coffee shop was buzzing with followers of all periods of punk rock music, and its movement. The open mic began, and so far, the performers were pretty good.

Also, so far, no Stacy. Veronica was relieved. She had no desire to have this conversation with her best friend. It was difficult to constantly see every male on the planet go for Stacy, but Veronica loved her as if she were her own sister. She was not jealous. She was happy for Stacy's beauty and confidence. She never wanted to compete with Stacy. _Thank goodness for that, because if I did want to compete with her, I'd lose, over and over again._ She really thought she had circumnavigated all of that by liking Jordan, a boy whose social circle was much more like Veronica than like Stacy. He seemed to have no interest in Stacy's type. And then here it was all over again. It was probably best to just give up on any hope of a love life.

Veronica let out yet another sigh. She realized this time that her mother was watching her. Minnie approached her daughter and hugged her. Veronica let her. The truth was, even though she was growing up, she still was greatly comforted by her parents' love.

"I won't press you to talk about this, sweetie. But I just want you to know that I love you more than anything, I hate that you're sad, and I hope that it passes."

"Thank-you, Mom."

She heard the bell that indicated "order up", a good cue to get back to work. Leaving the kitchen, Veronica almost dropped her tray in surprise at what she saw. Just entering the coffee shop were most of Lemonade Mouth: Charlie, Stella, Wen, and Olivia.

She approached then. "Hello! Welcome!"

Looking around, Wen said, "Man, this place is wild!"

Veronica laughed a little bit. "Well, today is the oddest it gets. But generally, it is not your typical coffee house crowd."

They found a free table. Charlie was in seventh heaven. As a drummer, his greatest respect lay with Latin jazz; its complexity offered endless challenges to him when he wasn't practicing Lemonade Mouth's music. But he had a life-long deeply rooted love of punk music, and a respect for what it represented.

A framed poster for a live show from the early 80's caught Charlie's eye. "No way!" he said, "I totally have that same poster."

"It was a pretty impressive line-up," said Veronica.

"You're not kidding!" said Charlie. "But the best of the night was Minnie 'n Joe. MAN, I wish I could have been there! Did you know that your coffee shop has the name of the greatest and most underrated punk duo of all time?"

Stella laughed. Veronica smiled. "What?" said Charlie.

"Really, Charlie? You haven't figured it out?" said Stella.

"The name isn't a coincidence," said Veronica.

"No way! So cool! So, your parents like them, too? Man, I thought I was their biggest fan! To name your whole business after your favorite band. That's devotion!"

Stella was now gasping for breath from laughing so hard. "Oh…..my…gosh…..Charlie….I can't….I can't….I can't believe….you!"

"Am I missing something?" asked Charlie.

Veronica rescued him. "Minnie 'n Joe are my parents."

"Like, they happen to have the same name?"

Wen said, "Shut up, Stella!" At this point, she was holding her sides. Wen and Olivia had figured it out.

Olivia spoke up. "No, Charlie, I think she's saying that they are the same Minnie 'n Joe as the band."

Charlie's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. "No. Way! I don't believe it."

"It's true," said Veronica.

Wen said, "OK, I give up. WHO are you talking about?" and to Veronica, "no offense."

Veronica replied with a smile, "none taken!"

Charlie looked at Wen, appalled. "You have got to be kidding me! Minnie 'n Joe are _only _the _greatest _innovation in all of punk history!"

"O….kaaayyyyy…." said Wen. He looked at Olivia, who shrugged. Taking pity on them, and before Charlie got violent, Veronica explained who her parents were.

Then, Charlie squealed. Truly, he squealed.

"Charlie?" said Stella, "Did you just? Squeal?"

Charlie said nothing. He simply pointed at another poster on the wall. "That is the only one I don't have."

Now, Veronica was surprised. "Do you mean to say you have all the other ones?"

Charlie replied, "I have every single album they recorded. I go to thrift shops and live on eBay just to find them. And I have all of the posters from every one of their shows. Except that one." At this, Charlie stood up and walked over to the poster. "the Paladium in LA."

Veronica was standing behind him. "You really are a fan, aren't you?" Charlie glared at her, well, as close to Charlie got to glaring. Veronica explained herself. "It's just that, lots of people come in, saying that they're fans of my parents'. But usually, they want to find out whatever happened to other bands that they loved from the time." He looked at her and smiled. "Not me!" Charlie and Veronica found themselves smiling at each other. _She is cute, and she's so kind._ Veronica started to see something more in Charlie. _Not my type, but I can see why girls are into him._

Stella approached them. "So, how's our fanboy?"

"He's admiring the poster. He says it's the only one of theirs that he doesn't have." said Veronica.

Stella replied, "I've never seen any of their concert posters up in your room."

Charlie looked at Stella as if she were a confused 5-year-old. "I don't put them up. The light will fade them. I keep them sealed and under my bed."

An idea occurred to Veronica. "Charlie, do you want to meet my parents?"

"YES! I mean, NO! I mean…" Charlie was excited but terrified. _What do I say to them? _

Veronica couldn't suppress a laugh. "I'll see if they're not busy right now."

She went into the kitchen and hollered to her parents. "Mom! Dad! You won't believe it! Someone who I really think is your biggest fan is here! And here's the trip: he's _my age_! AND he's a hugely famous rock star!"

Veronica's mom rounded the corner, drying her hands on a dish rag. Her dad brushed the flour off of his hands from the Afternoon Fresh Bagels he was making that the coffee house had become famous for.

"Will you please come out and meet him?" she asked.

"Of course!" said Minnie, willing to do anything to keep up the momentum of her daughter being out of her funk. As they walked out, Veronica filled them in on the details of Lemonade Mouth.

Minnie and Joe McKenna, though part of a counter-conformist artistic movement, were gracious professionals, whether interacting with fans from by-gone days or dealing with irate customers who had burnt their tongues on their coffee. Nevertheless, they did feel a thrill to know of such an ardent fan, especially one so young and who was also a professional musician.

"Mom? Dad? This is most of Lemonade Mouth." Everyone greeted and shook hands. Charlie was last.  
>"And this," Veronica motioned to Charlie, "is who may very well be your biggest fan, Charlie."<p>

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Charlie," said Minnie, putting her hand out for Charlie to shake it. Charlie, dumb-founded, stared at her hand. Stella came in for the rescue: she lifted Charlie's hand to Minnie's.

"So, Dad," said Veronica, "Charlie was enjoying your Paladium poster. He says it's the only one he doesn't have, that it's impossible to find. Odd, huh?" Veronica grinned at her father. Minnie raised an eyebrow at her husband. "Yes, dear, why do you suppose Charlie can't find any of the Paladium posters?"

Joe attempted to look innocent. "Who knows what could have happened to them? It was so long ago…"

"Dad…"

"OH all right!" At this, the two women in his family laughed at poor Joe.

Everyone else was lost. "Do you want to explain yourself, sweetie?" said Minnie.

"I was so excited to get to play at the famous Paladium in LA that, after the show, I took all of the posters, to keep for myself."

Minnie patted her husband's back. "It was a great achievement, to get to play there."

Veronica told them more about Charlie, who was still completely silent at all of this. "Charlie says that he owns every single album you ever recorded and every single poster for every one of your shows…except that one."

"I'm pretty sure he's earned one, don't you think?" Minnie asked her husband.

Stella interrupted, "Yeah, but he's just going to shove it under his bed."

At this, Charlie finally woke up from his trance. "I do NOT shove them there. They are carefully sealed in plastic, to keep from being destroyed by the elements. And they are stored under the bed to keep them from being bent."

"That is no place for a teenager to keep his posters," said Minnie. "You need to wallpaper your room with them, right?"

"And ruin them with tack holes and sun damage?" Charlie let his passion about his poster collection override is awe at meeting his music idols. He quickly corrected himself. "Sorry. That was rude."

"Not at all!" she said. "Joe, dear, don't you think you have 2 to spare? Charlie really needs to have something on his wall."

"REALLY?" said Charlie.

"Yes, but you have to promise to put one up." said Joe. "It would be a sincere honor to know that we're remembered by someone."

"Wow! Thank-you!"

"Ronnie will take care of getting them to you. We have to get back to work now. It was a pleasure to meet you, Charlie. And everyone else!" Minnie and Joe took their leave of the teens and went back to the kitchen.

"Your parents are so nice!" said Olivia.

Veronica nodded and smiled.

At this point, everyone turned to Charlie. He was staring in the direction that Minnie and Joe had gone, jaw dropped again. Then, he seemed to lose his strength and fell down into his seat.

Everyone else laughed.

"I can't believe I just spoke to them."

"Believe it," said Stella.

They enjoyed the rest of their brunch in peace. But Charlie couldn't stop mentally re-playing the scene of meeting THE Minnie 'n Joe. He was annoyed with himself that he spoke so little and so poorly, and it all went by so quickly. He kept hoping he could re-do that moment.

Then, a totally new thought occurred to Charlie. He now understood his female fans, how they could shout words of love at him when far away, but hardly spoke at all when in front of him. He felt a new level of sympathy for what can only be described as stage fright, when you meet a celebrity you like and have no idea what to say to them. Charlie would have to start thinking of a way to put those fans at their ease when he met them.

When their meal was over, Veronica came out to them again. "We need to figure out a way to get those posters to you, Charlie!"

Charlie said, "I'll give you my phone number, and then we can work it out."

Stella, Wen, and Olivia exchanged a look. They didn't care, but they knew that if Mo found out that Charlie gave his phone number to a fan, she'd flip.

Veronica spoke up before they did. "Don't give me your phone number!"

"What?" said Charlie.

"If you do, Stacy will eventually find out that I have it, and then she'll eventually get it out of me. Or she'll take my phone. She's been my best friend for my whole life, and I'd feel like a jerk keeping it away from her. But I don't want your privacy compromised."

"Wow! Do you always think of everyone else like that?" asked Olivia. Veronica shrugged.

"How about this? Let's go by email. Stacy already has that, so there's nothing new to get from me."

At that, Veronica looked out the window, and momentarily blanched. "Could you excuse me for one moment?"

She went outside and stopped Stacy before she could enter. "Before you go in there, you have to promise me that you won't spaz and you won't blog about what you see."

"Faded tattoos and middle-aged men in liberty spikes? I don't think punk brunch is the type of thing my readers are into, Mac."

"OK, but promise. Please. You never break a promise."

"Whatever. I promise."

"OK. Most of Lemonade Mouth is in the coffee house right now."

Stacy opened her mouth, about to scream. Veronica quickly reminded her, "You promised!"

The scream became more of a garbled squeek, like a broken chew toy. "Mac, you big jerk! You made me promise before giving me all of the information."

"Yeah, I did."

"GRR! All right. But can I go inside and say hello?"

Veronica let her pass.

They entered, and Stacy was composed and polite. Veronica was relieved, and proud of her best friend.

Luckily, she didn't have long to keep Stacy behaving herself. The Lemonade Mouth members were about to leave.

"Thanks so much for coming. Charlie, here's my email. We'll work it out."

"What? Work what out?" asked Stacy. Veronica poked her. "I'll tell you later."

They left, and Veronica told Stacy about the poster. She was relieved that there was another topic of conversation to have with Stacy. Hopefully, she forgot about…

"Now, about the Jordon situation," said Stacy.

_Crap._

"Stacy, please. I don't want to talk about it. Let's talk about the upcoming Charlie interview."

"Nice try. You've never had interest in it. And you can't distract me. I was a good girl with Lemonade Mouth. And I won't blog about it, so now we have to talk. It's only fair."

"I'm working." Just then, Minnie called out from the kitchen, "Ronnie, it's time for your break. Oh, hi, Stacy!"

"Hi, Mrs. Mac!"

Veronica immediately deflated. She had no choice but to tell Stacy.

They got drinks and found a small table in the back. "Spill it," said Stacy.

Veronica sighed. She looked down at her drink. "He's interested in you, Stace." Her voice was barely audible, but Stacy knew what she'd said.

"Oh, Veronica, what a jerk." Stacy only used Veronica's real name in moments of great emotion.

As sad as Veronica was about the whole thing, she was relieved that Stacy wasn't interested in Jordon. Watching them together would have been torture.

Stacy continued. "Mac, I know he likes you. He just doesn't _see_ you. Please! Just let me make you over. And if Jordon doesn't turn his head and completely regret not adoring you from the get-go, then you can go back to your former blah look."

Veronica replied, "Even if I said yes, I have no money for some kind of Grand Transformation."

Stacy felt hopeful. This was the first time Veronica hadn't flat-out rejected her. "My mom will take care of most of it, for free!" Stacy's mother was a hair stylist.

Just then, Minnie approached the table. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but…Ronnie, could you come here a second?"

Veronica followed her mother to the cash register. Mrs. McKenna opened it, and handed Veronica a large amount of cash. "Mom, what…..?"

"It's what we would have had to pay a hired employee for all the hours that you work."

"Why…?"

"Go with Stacy. Have a good day. Find your beautiful smile!"

"But…"

"Baby, I think you're the most beautiful person to enter this planet. And you are even more beautiful on the inside. What I want more than anything is for you to know that. Maybe letting Stacy help you get a different perspective than you may have had before will help you to see that."

"OK, mom, I love you!" Veronica hugged her mother.

Veronica approached her best friend. "All right, you mad woman, I'm in your hands."


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 10**

"All right, we're doing it TV makeover style!" said Stacy, turning Veronica away from the mirror.

"Stace, can't we just go shopping and get some clothes? Do we really need all of this?"

"Look, we can't get clothing until we're certain about your best colors. We won't know that until we see your hair color."

"I don't get it. How does my hair affect my clothing?"

Stacy sighed, feeling as if she were teaching a pre-schooler how to tie shoe laces. "Your hair color will bring out different aspects of your complexion and even possibly your eyes. _That_ will determine what color of clothing will look best on you."

Veronica frowned at her best friend. "She's right," said their hair dresser.

"Thank-you for the back-up, Mom!" said Stacy as Theresa Jenkins approached the girls, putting an apron on Veronica.

She turned to Veronica. "Look, sweetie, I know this might seem a little bit nerve-wracking to change your look. Besides, you're already beautiful. You know I know that, right?"

"Whatever," said Veronica, but she had to smile. Stacy definitely inherited her charm from her mom, who always, without fail, had the right words to make Veronica feel better.

"So all I'm doing is a couple of small things that will point out your best features. You can trust me, right?"

"Of course I can, Mrs. Jenkins," said Veronica.

"But girls," said Mrs. Jenkins, "it's going to take awhile. I have my best client in today, and I can't change her appointment last minute."

"Totally, Mom!" said Stacy.

Veronica and Stacy had no problem passing the time. They never did. They could talk about anything for hours, and with the fuel of stacks of entertainment gossip magazines to fuel them, they had no end of laughter, either.

When Theresa ushered her client into her chair, Stacy poked and shushed Veronica. "Try to guess who that is."

"How?"

"Just listen!"

They each opened a magazine and pretended to read while they eavesdropped on Theresa and her client.

"So, how is your son doing now?" she asked while she got to work treating the roots of the blond woman's hair.

"He's much better now, thank-you!" In spite of having her head half-full of bits of aluminum foil, she managed to look poised and graceful.

"That is so good to know. What a relief!"

"He's in a cast on his leg, but that's going down to a just a boot this week. Also…I think there's some sort of change in his social life…"

"What do you mean?"

Veronica got a text. It was from Stacy: "People will tell _anything_ to a hair dresser!"

"I think he has a new girlfriend."

"Didn't he already have one?"

The woman wrinkled her nose. "I did not like her at all. I think that one is over, and there's a new one: my boy never dressed up to take that other one out. And Friday, he left the house _dressed_ for a date. Also, he asked me about vegetarian restaurants."

"He's a vegetarian?"

"The bar-b-q champion of our street? Hardly! But I think the girl might be."

"Any clues? Did he tell you anything?"

"No, but we had a dinner with some of my husband's clients last night. And on the way, he said that there was someone he wanted us to meet."

"You asked, 'who', right? What did he say?"

"Oh, he's a clever one. He asked just as we arrived at the restaurant. Before I could ask, the valet had my door open. And my husband always spends the whole drive home from those things re-capping the night. Then, this morning, my boy was off to soccer practice before I even got up."

"Do you have any ideas as to who it could be?"

"No. But there was this girl in the hospital…"

"What was she like?"

"Terrific! She was full of life, and fearless! But also, she was kind, and thoughtful, and she looked after my boy during all the time that no one could get us to him."

"Pretty?"

"Yes! And totally different than anyone else I've seen him with."

"Do you think it could be her?"

"I don't know. Hopefully he'll bring it up again."

Mrs. Jenkins looked at Veronica and Stacy. She knew what they were up to. She caught her daughter's eye and winked at her. She asked the woman, "What did you say his name is?"

"Raymond. But of course, everyone calls him Ray."

"Isn't he a musician?"

"He is. But I haven't heard his band practice much recently…"

Veronica couldn't pretend to read the magazine anymore. She stared at Stacy, jaw dropped. She mouthed, "Ray Beech?" Stacy nodded, trying to suppress a giggle.

"Stacy, sweetie, why don't you get Ronnie started with her hair wash?" Theresa knew those girls and that they were seconds away from laughter explosion. It wouldn't do any good to her relationship with her best client, Mrs. Beech.

Meanwhile, at the Beech household, Ray came home from practice. He couldn't exactly practice with a broken leg, true, but Coach still wanted him there for watching the game films.

He pulled out his phone, took a breath to calm himself, and made the call. Voicemail. _Of course._ Whenever you need to make a call that is nerve-wracking material, you always get voicemail.

Olivia, Wen, and Charlie were at Stella's house for a swim. She left her phone in the kitchen before she and Olivia went outside, so that it wouldn't get splashed.

When they got out to the pool, Wen's breath caught at the sight of Olivia in a swimsuit. Olivia did her best to find a clandestine way to sneak a peek at her boyfriend in his swimsuit; she'd never seen him shirtless. Then, once she got a good look at him, she had trouble not staring.

Once in the pool, their voices hidden by Stella and Charlie in a splash war, Wen said to Olivia, "Wow, Liv. You look amazing." She blushed and looked away. Olivia got up the nerve to say, "You're one to talk." He was her boyfriend, true. And they had declared their love for one another. But she was still shy about talking about some things with him. _He's just so good-looking! And for some reason, he likes me._

Wen thought the same thing, on a regular basis, but with slightly different words. _She's so freakin' hot. God only knows why she puts up with my weirdo self._ Nevertheless, he was charmed by her bashfulness. He didn't think he could have that effect on anyone, let alone someone as beautiful as Olivia. And it was something that grabbed a hold of him like nothing else. He put his arms around her waist – _skin, her bare waist! _– and pulled her in to embrace her. She encircled him in her arms, loving the feel of his skin. Before they kissed, however, they were deluged with a bucket of water.

"NO MAKING OUT IN MY POOL!" said Stella. Wen and Olivia backed away from each other, blushing furiously. Everyone spent the rest of the afternoon in water wars.

Dr. Yamada came outside with Stella's phone. "Hi, Mom!" said Stella. Her mother said, "your phone won't stop beeping. Turn it off, or put it somewhere else, or address the beeping. But it's making me crazy!"

"Sorry, Mom," said Stella, drying off and taking her phone. She noticed a number of missed alerts. They were calls from Ray.

Olivia looked over Stella's shoulder at her phone. "He's not getting all stalker on you, is he?"

Stella said, "Let's find out." She called him back. He answered with, "Where've you been?"

Stella replied, "You're not gonna get all stalker on me, are you?"

Ray said, "No. Not yet."

Stella went into the other room, to get some privacy. "So, why did you need to call me 27 times in the past hour?"

"I think it was 3. And I didn't think they'd all show up."

"Actually just 2 of them did." The truth was that 3 did show up, but she still had fun getting the better of him, even though she was crazy in love with him.

Ray couldn't chit-chat any longer. He had to get this done.

Ray Beech said yet another thing to Stella Yamada that he had never said to any other girl before. "Stella, I want you to meet my parents."

"Um, I already have. It wasn't pretty," she said.

"No," said Ray. "I think you and my mom hit it off…"

"I didn't technically actually exchange words with your mom. I went to battle with Evil Jo the Nurse to get your mom to you. I did stupidly stand up to your dad. He's scary, did you know that?"

"Yeah. People say I take after him."

"Cute."

"I want you to have dinner here."

"No."

"What?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I don't think they'll want to see me. At best, I remind your mom of her baby boy being all broken and in a hospital bed. At worst, I'm a jerk who scolded your dad. There's nothing good in it for an evening with your parents."

"I'll debrief them, and tell Dad to hold off the hounds." Then, another term Ray did not use often. "Please. Please, Stella."

Her heart melted and her stomach leapt at the sound of his tone of voice. "Oh, you know I can't resist you when you beg."

"Beg? Hardly."

"Maybe I'm busy that night…"

"You're beautiful and have a cute face that I love to kiss and I love you through and through."

"ARGH now you're charming me? You are low, Ray Beech!"

"I do what I can."

"OK. But if it gets ugly, I'm leaving."

"Fair enough."

Stella hung up and joined her friends.

"So….?" asked Olivia.

"It's not our business," said Charlie. But he was also curious.

"He wants me to meet his parents."

"Woah! I've officially heard everything," said Wen.

Stella changed the subject. "How about that Veronica? Isn't she great?"

Olivia caught her cue, and replied, "She is! That is so cool that she's getting you that poster, Charlie!"

Charlie said, "Yeah, I still can't believe it." Then, he asked Wen, "You really think she's a PJ? I don't see it."

"Well, I saw her from far away the first time," Wen said, "up close, she's kinda cute."

"And she's just so sweet!" said Olivia.

"Yeah, but don't let Mo find out that we were cavorting with," Stella looked around and lowered her voice, "a fan."

Wen said, "Mo's getting a little ridiculous about this."

"I don't think I'd call Veronica a fan," said Charlie.

"She doesn't like our stuff?" said Wen.

"Not that," said Charlie. "She's something….else…something…more, I think…maybe."

On the other side of town, the aforementioned PJ was in the process of shedding any remnants of that label.

"OK, we're done!" said Mrs. Jenkins, as she spun Veronica in her chair to face the mirror.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked.

Veronica was dumb-struck. She couldn't believe that what she saw was a mirror, and not some pretty girl looking at her through a window.

Stacy looked like she would burst with happiness. "THAT's our girl! Look at you! Mom, you're a freakin' artist!"

"Thank-you, sweetie." Then, she asked Veronica, "Ronnie? Are you all right?"

"Yes, yes, of course!" she touched her hair, to re-assure herself that it really was hers.

Stacy explained everything: "That, my dear, is the color you should have been born with. You were given your mom's green eyes, but your dad's light brown hair, which unfortunately drowned out all the green in your eyes. By giving you your mom's red hair, we can _now _see your eyes as the _GREEN _that they are meant to be. And the combo of your hair and eyes now brings out the pink in your skin, which mixes with the ivory that was already there, muting the freckles nicely. Then, Mom gave you layers to frame your face and bring out your natural waves. So, NO MORE PONYTAILS! Got it?"

"OK."

"All right. Now to the stores, before they close. Bye, Mom! You're the best!"

Veronica followed Stacy, saying to Mrs. Jenkins, "What she said. Thank-you!" She gave her "second mom" a hug.

Once outside, Stacy turned to Veronica. "Now do you trust me?"

"Yes," said Veronica.

"Great! Then the first stop is make-up. Then, clothing!"

Veronica followed obediently. Stacy was right, had always been right. And maybe now Veronica could get Jordon to notice her.


	11. Chapter 11

I am so sorry this has taken me so long! I've been completely overwhelmed by work and family the past couple of months. Thank-you (and especially ein grosse vielen dank for my new German friend! And sorry for butchering that last phrase…) for the kind reviews and for the adds. I will try much harder to get the rest of this story up more quickly.

I don't own Lemonade Mouth; I just borrow it. ;)

**Chapter 11**

When Veronica got home, her mother was waiting for her. She gasped at the sight of her daughter's new look.

"That bad?" said Veronica.

"NO! Oh, Ronnie! You look amazing!"

Veronica sighed, relieved. "I'm a little nervous about it."

"I can imagine. But you know what? You can really have a lot of fun with a new look. You're always you underneath; it's just the packaging that changes!"

"Easy for you to say. By the time you were my age, your hair had been every color in the rainbow!"

"And it was MUCH harder to find the good colors those days! Half the reason your father and I were so excited to play at the Paladium was getting the chance to shop on Melrose." She laughed at the memory.

"I'm going to put all of this stuff away," said Veronica. "Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Thank-you. You're the best!"

"No, sweetie, you are."

"Thanks." Veronica smiled, and turned to leave.

"Wait," said her mother. She stopped. Mrs. McKenna continued. "It's true. You constantly think of everyone else around you, making sure that no one is unhappy or uncomfortable. You put your own wants aside for everyone else. And you always know the exact right thing to say to put a person at their ease. No one ever feels awkward or uncomfortable around you."

"Thank-you, Mom!"

"So, I'm just, real happy to see you do something for yourself."

Veronica gave her mother a big hug and then went to her room to put all of her stuff away.

Afterward, she sat at her computer to do her homework, but decided to check her email first. There was a message from Charlie.

"Hey Veronica, I hope you had a good day. That was nice of your parents to offer me that poster, but I don't think I can accept it. It's WAY too much! Take care, Charlie."

She was in the middle of writing a reply when her IM interrupted her. It was Charlie.

"Hey."

"Hi! I just read your email."

"Yeah, I think I want to change my mind again."

"I was going to tell you that you don't have a choice anymore. You're taking them! My dad has MANY."

"OK, if you're sure…"

"Yes, of course! I'll bring them into the coffee house. And you can pick them up whenever you get the chance."

"OK, thanks!"

"Of course! So, ready for Wednesday's hard-hitting interview?"

He typed, " *_changes__subject_* how was your day?"

Veronica laughed out loud. _He__'__s__funny__as__well__as__nice!__Too__bad__he__'__s__not__my__type__…__not__that__it__'__d__do__any__good__if__he__were__my__type._

She let him change the subject. She suspected that he didn't like to be interviewed, and so she wouldn't make him more nervous than he probably already was.

She replied, " *_lets__him,__but__reminds__him__that__the__audience__is__only__a__handful__of__blog__readers_* It was good. My mom let me off early, and Stacy took me out. Well, really, she dragged me out, and my mom kinda kicked me in her direction."

" *_asks__her__to__define__ '__handful__' __and__reminds__her__that__they__will__now__see__him__in__a__live__stream__and__will__see__his__panic__if__there__'__s__a__difficult__question_* Dragged? Kicked? Did you have a dentist appointment?"

"No, and you have a good point, although they will probably not be asking you for help in calculus."

"You're dodging my other question. And there are other types of difficult questions."

"True on both counts. Stacy and my mom decided that it was time to upgrade my personal aesthetic."

"How? Why?"

Veronica had a hard time finding a way to answer his one. She was embarrassed about the whole Jordon thing. If she told Charlie, he would undoubtedly feel the need to compliment her, to make her feel better. And the last thing she needed right now was some kind of insincere, polite, placate-the-insecure-plain-girl compliment.

"Oh, I guess they thought that changing my hair color would bring out my eyes more. I'm not very good at speaking Girl. It's not that I speak Boy either. Does that make me genderless? Ew."

"You're definitely a girl." Charlie hit send before he knew what he was doing. _Oh__no!_ Veronica was a very nice girl, but she didn't exactly throw herself at him. In fact, she made no demonstration at all that she had any interest in him. And the last thing Charlie needed these days was yet another cute girl who wanted to just be his friend.

_Zing!_ Reading that little sentence on her screen shot a small thrill through Veronica that she had not expected.

Charlie quickly tried a diversion. "So, did you dye your hair green?"

"What? Green? Why?"

"You said they wanted to bring out your eyes more. They're green. So, is it green hair that does that?"

Another _zing_. In all of Veronica's life, no one had ever known her eye color. Even her parents had said, "Generally, they tend to be green."

She decided to play it cool. _I__will_not_let__myself__like__this__boy.__There__are__countless__teenage__girls__all__over__the__country__who__adore__him,__and__he__'__ll__probably__end__up__wanting__Stacy__anyway._ She wrote, "Not green. Apparently, red hair brings out green eyes."

"And matches your Irish last name." _Lame._ Charlie was annoyed with his inability to hold decent conversation, especially with a cute girl. _Stop.__Do_not _fall__for__her_.

"Good point! Hey, about that interview. Stacy asked me to help her. I'm no good at that kind of thing. But, for what it's worth, I'll be there. And I'll try to intervene in case there are any tough calculus questions."

"Thanks! Because I totally suck at math."

"I'm very good at it. And I'm also good at other tough questions. Or so I'm told."

"Thank-you, Veronica."

"Of course!"

"Hey, I have another question."

"Yes?"

"What's with all your nicknames? Does anyone call you by you real name?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just one of those nickname people. Or maybe because Veronica is an odd name on a teenager?"

"Do you like your name? Do you like all the nicknames?"

An odd question, but inexplicably, it touched her. "Honestly, no one has ever asked me that. I do like my name, but no one ever calls me by it."

"I will."

_Zing_ again. She needed to change the subject before this got dangerous. "So, what kind of music do you like, besides obscure old-school punk?"

All the girls in Charlie's life belonged to two groups: one was fans, and the other was Mo, Olivia, and Stella. Not one of them had ever asked him that question. He wasn't that part of the band's creative process, so his bandmates never thought to ask. And the fans didn't seem to be terribly interested in his music…

He wrote back, "Oh, all sorts."

"Please. Everyone our age likes 'all sorts' of music. You're a musician. I'm pretty sure you have a better answer than that." Right after she hit send, she regretted her sassy attitude.

Charlie was amused at Veronica's calling him to the carpet on that. "Fair enough," he replied. "I like to find music that has unusual instrumentation or beat. So, my all-time love is Latin jazz. And I have a secret love of big band, because it's fun." He thought a second, and then added, "Specific enough?"

"It'll do," Veronica replied. She was a bit surprised at her boldness in teasing this rock star and nationwide teen heart throb. Her thoughts were interrupted by another message from said heart throb. "What about you? Everyone in your life bows to your musical knowledge. So…what do you _like_?"

"ARGH! Unfair!"

"Totally fair."

"OK, well, I respect all of it, even if I don't necessarily prefer all of it. My (_what__was__Jordan?__ "__my__crush__"__?__ "__my__totally__fruitless__waste__of__time__"__?__ "__my__most__recent__source__of__humiliation__"__?_) friend, Jordan, is a total snob. He says rap isn't music, and that metal is just screaming."

"One of those people."

"Yeah. He's wrong. Rap has a fascinating history, and it absolutely _is_music. So is metal. Besides, I'm intrigued by angry people connecting to music. It's like finding the route to taming the savage beast."

"Veronica, you are unreal."

"What? How?"

"Do you find something positive about everyone?"

"I guess so."

"That's amazing."

"I don't know."

"Does everyone in your life totally love you?" He immediately felt foolish for sending this. But he couldn't help it. It was like Veronica was all the best qualities of Stella, Olivia, and even Mo, rolled into one. But she was more…

"Not exactly." _Oops._She was going to have to get into the Jordan mess now. With Charlie. The boy voted "Hottest Up-and-Coming" by Teen Sweet magazine was going to be subjected to her pathetic tale of woe.

"Who would be so stupid?"

"I've got a lot of homework. And my mom is gonna kill me if she sees me here instead of working on it."

"Hmm…I think you're trying to escape."

"Maybe."

"Well?"

"It's a lame story."

Charlie realized she didn't want to talk about it. Or maybe she thought he didn't want to hear it. He decided to take a risk. "I'm sure yours isn't as bad as mine."

"A guy I'm interested in."

"Isn't into you?"

"There's a bit more."

"?"

"He's interested in Stacy."

"Lame."

"Yeah."

"Does she…"

"No, thankfully!" Then, "oops, sorry."

"Huh?"

_Oh__no!__I__overstepped!_"Sorry, again. I just thought you"

"What?" _How__could__she__know?_

"Well, um, on Moxie's show, it looked a little like you have a thing for Mohini. But it was probably weird editing or something."

_Crap!__This__can__'__t__be__happening!_"It did? How?"

"Well, when she asked if you had anyone special in your life, you said, 'no, not yet', and you looked at Mohini when you said it." Veronica quickly added, "OK before that sounds all stalker crazy, I only know this because Stacy made me watch it about a hundred times and analyze every second of it. So, again, probably weird editing."

Charlie felt as if he were going to pass out. His stomach ached. Her words were a boot in his gut. He thought he had worked at no one knowing this. And now apparently the entire country was in on it. But he got the feeling that if anyone could help him, it was this lovely girl.

"Can I trust you?"

"Of course."

"As in, not even Stacy."

"Charlie, especially not Stacy."

"Yeah, I do."

"From working with her in the band?"

"No, from long before that."

"So, then, the band…"

"Yeah, I kinda joined in the hope of getting her."

"So, you didn't, and you also have to see her with Scott."

"Yeah."

"Well, that explains how you're able to fend off all the fans so easily."

"Sort of."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, partly it's because I don't want to hurt anyone. So I try to keep a distance. And partly, it's"

Veronica interrupted him, "that you're too into Mohini to notice them."

"I guess it was that at first. But actually, what I was going to say was that our manager, and now Mo, keep advising me to keep my distance. There's the safety issue, with stalkers and all. And Mo is freaked out about the band getting a reputation for a womanizing drummer."

"OK, that can't be easy at all."

"What part?"

"That the girl you're into is telling you who not to get involved with. I mean, I totally get the safety issue. But all the same, it can't be easy to be getting that kind of advice from her of all people."

"YES!" It was such a relief to hear that from someone else.

"Wait. You said, 'at first.' So, does that mean you have a hope of getting over her?"

"I think so. I mean, I used to think about her all the time. But now…I think my thoughts are beginning to go elsewhere…"

_Super__zing!_ She had to calm herself. _Stop__it.__He__can__'__t__possibly__be__talking__about__you._

Charlie was ready to kick himself for letting that out. And then he started to panic that she was taking too long to answer. So, he tried to change the subject, a little bit. "And you? Any hope of getting over this idiot who wants Stacy?"

She replied immediately. "I think so. I mostly feel foolish about the whole thing."

"You shouldn't."

"Thank-you. Maybe my thoughts can go elsewhere too."

Charlie saw a glimmer of hope. _Could__she__mean__…__.?_ "Elsewhere thoughts are good."

"True. OK, really, I have to sleep, or my mom will really kill me. You don't want to anger a former punk rocker. Even one who dabbled in punk/folk ironic fusion!"

"Good point. Good night, Veronica."

"Good night, Charlie."


	12. Chapter 12

_Merry Christmas, all! I've put in some more Ray/Stella fer ya. I don't know why the italics look like there are no spaces in the last chapter. I didn't write it that way. Something must have happened in the upload?_

_I don't own Lemonade Mouth._

**Chapter 12**

Charlie was awakened yet again by a text from Olivia. "Are you ready to go get Stella? We're out front."

_Stella's birthday! _He'd forgotten. He wrote back, "I'll be right out." He pulled on the nearest jeans and t shirt he could find and bolted out the door.

"You forgot, didn't you?" asked Olivia, once Charlie was in the car. Scott had room for all of them, when he borrowed his parents' Explorer.

"What? Why?" said Charlie.

She reached into her backpack and handed him a brush.

Charlie took it sheepishly and said, as he quickly shoved the brush through his hair, "I was up too late, and my alarm didn't go off…"

"Finally catching up on your English homework?" said Wen. "What did you end up doing for the _Great Expectations _project?"

"When is it due?" said Charlie, with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Olivia looked at him, horrified. Wen shook his head and tried not to laugh.

It was Mo who spoke, "OMIGOD, Charlie! It's due tomorrow! You didn't start it, did you?"

Charlie frowned and looked out the window. He muttered, "I'm gonna have to take summer school, anyway. So, what does it matter whether I do my work or not?"

"Charlie, we're going on tour this summer! We need you!" whined Mo.

Charlie scowled. "It's not like I want to take summer school."

"Well, if you'd just do your work when you're supposed to…" retorted Mo.

To stop the impending argument, Olivia intervened. "OK, so this is what we're going to do. Instead of rehearsal today, we're going to help Charlie with his project. He _has_ to pass English."

Wen was flabbergasted. "Wow, sweetie! You want to go on tour?" He squeezed her hand.

Olivia looked down as she replied, "No. I mean, I love making music with all of you, but…"

"Yeah," and Wen kissed the hand he was holding. "So…?"

"Well," she replied, "if we are going to go on tour, we have to have everyone, right? We can't do it without Charlie."

"Ah, Liv!" he said, ever-surprised by the strength of his girlfriend. As he leaned in to kiss her cheek, he whispered to her, "You're amazing!" She smiled.

He turned to Charlie and said, "You do realize the depth of this, right?"

"Huh? I guess." But Charlie was mostly too embarrassed to admit that he knew exactly what Wen was saying.

"She's willing to go on tour, even though she HATES to perform, for the sake of the band. So, you can't have summer school, for the sake of the band. We'll help you on this project. But after this…"

Mo interrupted, "you _have_ to do the rest of your work, from now on!"

"Got it," muttered Charlie. He felt pretty guilty that his academic negligence would keep them from the chance of a lifetime. Here Olivia was, willing to make herself sick with nerves every day, for the love of her friends. And he couldn't be bothered to do his stupid homework.

Just then, they pulled up to Stella's house. "Who's getting her?" asked Scott. "I'd go, but I have to keep the engine running."

"Coward!" called Wen. Everyone had developed a respectable fear of Morning Stella. They knew that they had to keep up their kidnapping-for-early-breakfast tradition by the time they got to Stella's birthday, but they were all dreading waking her up.

"Nose goes?" said Charlie, already holding his finger on the tip of his nose.

Mo rolled her eyes and shook her head. "We'll all go."

They approached Stella's door. Her mom had given Mo a copy of the house key. With some trepidation, Mo put the key in the lock. As she turned it, the door suddenly flew open, and out jumped Stella, with a "HA!" Everyone else nearly jumped out of their skin and screamed.

Stella doubled over in laughter.

"How did you know?" asked Olivia.

"Uh, it's my birthday? I did kinda do this to all of you over the past few months…"

Everyone looked at each other sheepishly, and laughed.

Shortly thereafter, they were sitting at Dave's Diner, the only place near school that was open that time of the morning.

"It's too bad we don't have the time to take you to Minnie 'n Joe's. But we'd never get to school on time if we did," said Wen.

"Man, we've got to check that place out," Scott said to Mo. "I think everyone's been there but us."

Mo bristled at the suggestion. "Whatever," she muttered. Scott gave her a hard look, but he remained silent.

Everyone else chose to completely ignore the exchange. They knew by now the dangers of mentioning the possibility of friendship with a fan to Mo. To change the subject, Wen told Stella of the change in rehearsal plans for the afternoon. "Yeah, so it's Operation Rescue Charlie," he finished.

"OK!" said Stella. "But I can't stay."

"Another date with my boy?" asked Scott.

"Well, later. But first, dinner with my parents. They're taking me to a vegetarian restaurant! The whole restaurant is completely meat free!"

"Sounds like a nightmare," said Wen. Everyone else giggled, but Stella just rolled her eyes. By this point, Wen couldn't stop himself, "I mean, a life without bacon is a life not worth living!" Everyone else laughed outright. Stella replied, "The pig would disagree." At this point, everyone howled, and Olivia and Mo both high-fived Stella. Scott said, "Good point, but I still love me some steak…"

The rest of breakfast went on like that. Stella was happy to have such a great group of friends, like a second family.

"So, where's Ray?" asked Mo, when they arrived at school.

"Doctor's appointment. I think they're reducing the cast to a boot." Stella replied. She felt foolish to admit it, even silently to herself, but she didn't like to not see him there. She knew she'd see him later, but all the same, she missed him.

However, she was relieved that he didn't see her ensemble that day. Stella was now the victim of the tradition that she herself started. The first birthday of their group was Wen's. Stella had found some fabric that had pink birthday cakes and huge yellow lettering "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" all over it. Olivia had her grandmother make a robe out of it, and when they nabbed Wen out of bed at 5:00 that morning, he was obligated to wear the robe. The robe was then worn by each member of the band on his or her birthday. Every single time it cracked Stella up. But now, bedecked in the hideous robe herself, Stella – the world's most confident teenager – felt self-conscious.

What Stella forgot was her rock star status. As she walked down the hallway, instead of points and giggles, she received "Happy Birthday!"s and high-fives. At her locker, someone had taped several pieces of magazine to the door, all copies of the same thing: "Our Faves' B-Days This Month!" It was the last page of every issue of Teen Sweet Magazine. There was Stella's name, highlighted in yellow, in case she missed it. _OK, that's pretty cool!_

By lunch, Stella was so happy about the showering of birthday wishes that she had completely forgotten about the ridiculous robe she was wearing. She walked to the cafeteria, humming the latest song Lemonade Mouth was working on. She didn't see the crutch until she was clothespinned by it. She smacked right into it with her gut, and she lost her footing. As she fell forward, a strong arm grabbed a hold of her to steady her, and then swiftly pulled her into the Cove. Before she knew it, Stella found herself against Ray's chest.

"We really need to stop meeting each other like this," he said.

"It would be easier if you'd stop trapping me," she replied. However, she made no move to stand up straight, and away from his hold. Then, she realized that he still had the crutches. She did pull away from him and said, "Hey, wait a minute. I thought you didn't need those anymore."

"I don't. I needed to keep them here to set my trap. It's a great way to meet girls, you know." Then, he said, "Uh, nice outfit."

Stella looked down, and she remembered the robe. _Oh no!_ "Yeah, well, uh, you weren't even supposed to be here today."

"So, you only get all dressed up when I'm around? Otherwise, if I'm not here, you can't even muster the strength to get out of your bathrobe?"

"Something like that."

"You know that people can see you, right? We can't have them thinking that Ray Beech's girlfriend is all sloppy. That will make me look really bad."

Stella couldn't think of a witty reply. She simply scowled at him. She had these moments with Ray, where she wasn't quite sure if he was joking or not. Any verbal reply was apt to be the wrong one, and so she was getting adept at scowling at him until she could figure it out.

"Uh-oh, it's The Look," he said.

_Damn, I've been caught._ She attempted innocence. "Huh?"

"It's what you do when you're trying to decide if I'm joking or being offensive."

"Oh?"

Ray pulled her to him. "You crazy kid," kiss, "I'm," kiss, "never," kiss, "serious," kiss, "when it comes to," kiss, "ever saying that you," kiss, "look anything less than," kiss, "the most beautiful," kiss, "girl," kiss, "on the planet." Huge kiss.

Stella sighed and smiled.

"I've got something to show you," Ray said. He led her out of the Cove. They walked toward the cafeteria, and Ray held her hand.

"What is it?" asked Stella.

Ray looked down at their entwined hands as they walked.

"OH!" said Stella, and she gave a little hop. They were holding hands and walking together! That can't be done on crutches. AND this was a total first for Ray Beech at all. No one at Mesa High could recall ever seeing Ray hold hands with a girl. Here he was, holding hands with a girl in public. And not just any girl: a freshman wearing at Happy Birthday bathrobe.

As they entered the cafeteria, it was as if they were royalty. Everyone stopped for one brief second and looked. Then, just like when celebrities are sighted in restaurants, everyone quickly went back to their business, pretending not to keep watching Ray and Stella.


	13. Chapter 13

Been totally slammed by work and family, sorry! Also, Charlie's character just doesn't speak to me the way that Stella and Ray do. I'm so sorry that this story is so slow-going!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 13**

Rehearsal went well that afternoon. They finalized the details on Olivia's new song, and it came together nicely. However, during a break, Stella made a slip.

"So, Charlie, when are you gonna go get those posters? That was so nice of that Veronica girl to get them for you!"

Mo whipped her face toward Charlie. "What posters? Veronica? Isn't that the girl from the park? Isn't she friends with that blog girl? What's going on, Charlie?"

_Crap!_ Charlie glared at Stella. Then, he attempted to smooth it over with Mo. "Her parents were in a band that I like, and it's a poster from one of their shows."

"Wow, that's a lot of understatements at once!" said Wen. Olivia jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow while she tried to placate Mo by sending as many sympathetic facial expressions as she could muster up.

"What?" said Mo.

Charlie looked positively panicked. Stella, completely exasperated, came in for the rescue. "All right, enough! Mo, Veronica's parents were a band that Charlie worships, and the posters are from the one and only show that Charlie doesn't have a poster for."

"What does she want in return for such a generous gift?" Mo snapped.

Scott said, in a warning tone, "Mo, that's enough."

"I don't know," said Charlie. "She didn't say that she wanted anything." Then, his anger began to rise. "Anyway, why does she have to want something? Why can't it be that she's just a nice person?"

Mo let out a patient, yet more than a little bit condescending, sigh. "That's just not how girls, especially fans, work, Charlie."

"And you're the expert?" he shot back. He was sick and tired of the woman of his dreams – who wanted nothing romantic to do with him – calling all the shots in his personal life.

Stella could see that this was about to get ugly. So, she called an end to rehearsal. "Ding ding ding! Round over, back to your corners! Now, before we start spilling blood, l say we call it quits for the night. I've got a birthday dinner to get to. And someone seems to think he's taking me out afterward."

Everyone immediately felt contrite. They mumbled apologies for bickering on Stella's birthday. Everyone gave her hugs as they left the music room.

As Ray and Stella walked to his car, he said, "Dang it! You stopped them before it got good!"

"Funny, Beech," said Stella. Then, she mustered up all the humility she could find (which was not easy; love or no, she still found it difficult to swallow her pride in the face of the great Ray Beech sometimes), she asked him, "This is ridiculous, right?"

"What?"

"That Mo is all crazy about Charlie being friends with a fan. Charlie's fine, right? Mo's being over-protective of the whole image thing, right?"

"You're asking the wrong questions."

"Huh?"

"Charlie has the right to befriend whomever he wants."

"nice 'whomever'!"

"Studying for the SAT. Anyway…the point is, what is the real reason for Mo being so upset by it?"

Stella thought for a minute. Then she said, "No, I don't think so. She's had plenty of chances with Charlie. And she's never taken them."

"Yeah, but sometimes girls need to see a guy with another girl before they decide that he's want-able."

"How do you use 'whomever' and then 'want-able' in the same conversation?"

"It's part of my charm."

"Yes, dear," she said, as she got into the car.

In another car, in another part of town…

Scott turned to Mo and said, "We need to talk."


	14. Chapter 14

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 14**

"What is it?" Mo asked, trying to sound calm. Inside, she panicked. That was not Scott's happy tone of voice, and she knew they were in for a lousy conversation.

"What is your problem with Charlie's fans?" he asked.

"I don't know what you mean."

"I think you do." She remained silent. So, he continued, "Whenever anything with girls being into Charlie comes up, you totally freak out."

"No, I don't! And they aren't 'girls into Charlie'. They're groupies. Lemonade Mouth doesn't need the rep-"

"Yeah yeah, 'the reputation that comes with groupies.' I know, Mo. I've heard your speech a thousand times. And I just don't agree with you. For one thing, there is no harm in 'groupies' or 'fan girls' or whatever you want to call them."

"But they're not into the music. They're just into the guys in the band being cute!"

"It's not your business to decide what a fan wants to like about you. If anything about the band makes a person happy – the music, the hotness of the people in it, the name, whatever – you should be happy and grateful that you get to be a positive part of their lives."

Mo scowled.

"For another thing," Scott took a breath. He was clearly angry and hurt, and he was trying to find the clearest way to say what he needed to say. "Why are you entirely focused on Charlie's fans?"

"I'm not!"

"Mo, you are. You don't get like this when there are girl fans after Wen, or me. And I'm your boyfriend."

"That's because I trust you!" she said, her voice rising in pitch.

"Then why are you so worked up about Charlie's fans?"

"What are you saying, Scott?"

"I'm saying that I wonder if you have feelings for Charlie."

"What? NO! Of course not!"

"You seem like it."

"NO!"

"Look, Mo. He clearly has a thing for you."

"Well, he said it to me once. But I only like him as a friend!"

"I'm not so sure about that."

"But I love you, Scott!" Then, she got angry. "YOU'RE one to talk about infidelity!"

"Yes, Mo, I made the biggest mistake of my life when I cheated on you. And I will keep spending all of the time we have together making it up to you. But this is a totally different thing. I don't know what it is about you and Charlie. But you have some things you need to sort out, if we have any chance of a future together."

Mo, through tears, said, "No, Scott! I don't have any feelings for him! He's just my friend! He said once that he liked me…"

Scott interrupted, "…that's obvious. He's got it bad for you."

"_Used to _like me! And I told him that I only like him as a friend. And he got over it."

"No, he didn't. And if you only like him as a friend, you wouldn't care about the girls who have crushes on him."

"I'm just concerned for his well-being!"

"But not so concerned for Wen's or mine, regarding the female fans?"

Mo just wept in response. She feared his next words, but she knew they were coming.

"Mo, we need to take some time off, until you figure out what's going on with you and Charlie."

"No, Scott, no!"

"I love you more than I have ever loved anyone. I hope you come back to me. But I have to know that I have _all _of you, and that you're not gonna freak out whenever some other girl shows interest in the guy who has a crush on you."

Scott hated having to say this to her, but it was true. He cheated on Mo with his actions, but he feared that she was also cheating on him, in a different sense. He hooked up with Jules, but he still loved Mo. Mo stayed at his side, but was her heart really with Charlie?

He sighed and drove Mo to her house, her sobbing the whole time. He walked her to her door and said, "I love you. Please come back to me. But only when it's all you."

Scott waited for Mo to enter her house, and then he left.

As usual, Mr. Banerjee was waiting for his daughter in the living room. At the sight of his weeping daughter, he said, "Monu? What is the matter?" But it was to her back; Mo ran past her father without a word, not even the usual, "I love you, Baba."

Mo didn't know what to do. She loved Scott with all her heart. What was he talking about? Feelings for Charlie? That was unbelievable!


	15. Chapter 15

This one was fun!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 15**

Later that evening, Ray picked up Stella from her home, to take her out for after-dinner coffee. They went, of course, to Minnie 'N Joe's.

Veronica seated them, and said, "It's good to see you again!"

Though her hair was pulled back by a kerchief, several rebellious strands kept popping out. It was enough for Stella to notice.

"I love the new color!" she said. Veronica, completely taken aback to be noticed by anyone, let alone a rock star like Stella, immediately self-consciously fiddled at shoving her hair back under the kerchief. "Oh, thank-you!" she said, a bit shyly. She took their orders, and she went back to the kitchen.

"She's so sweet, and such a cutie," said Stella.

"I guess so," said Ray. He was too busy thinking about how to give Stella her birthday gift to notice how cute Veronica was or was not. Stella turned away from looking after Veronica to see Ray fidgeting with his pockets. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Happy Birthday, Stella," he said, producing a necklace-sized jewelry box. Stella eagerly opened it. Inside was a bright orange guitar pick on a ball-bearing chain.

"Cool! Thank-you!" she said. Ray looked at her eagerly, or at least as eagerly as Ray Beech allowed for anyone to see him. Stella realized that there was something else she was supposed to notice about the guitar pick. She took a closer look and noticed, "To Sista Stella" written on one side. On the other side was, "xoxo, Sista Slash". Stella's jaw dropped. She could not believe it. Ray had managed to get a personalized, autographed guitar pick from Stella's all-time favorite singer.

"How did you…?"her voice trailed off.

Ray replied, shrugging (but clearly incredibly pleased with having impressed her), "I have connections." Then, Stella remembered that Ray's dad's sports drink company was sponsoring the tour of a band that Sista Slash was opening for. All the same, there was a heck of a lot of leg work, and time, involved in getting something like this.

"How did you know?"

"That you like her? Well, remember how you gave me your notebook to talk while my pipes were dead?"

Stella nodded.

"You kinda have all of the lyrics of all of her songs written throughout it, along with many word-art drawings of 'Sista Stella'."

"Oh yeah. Well, besides that…" Stella gave a weak, and slightly embarrassed, laugh. Then, she thought a bit about the amount of time it must have taken Ray to put all of this together.

"When did you do this?"

Now it was Ray's turn to be embarrassed. "I started when I got home from the hospital. I was going to make it a sort of thank-you for all that you did for me in the hospital, and, well, kind of, sort of, then I was going to try to ask you out. But then, uh, other stuff, Club AZ, happened. And so, birthday gift."

Such a great gift, and the thrill of finding out that he had been planning a way to ask her out (before that glorious night at the club!) made Stella want nothing more than to jump across that table, throw her arms around him, and thank him good and proper. She scooted her chair next to him, put her hands on his cheeks, and drew him in for a great, big kiss. Then, she leaned up to his ear and whispered, "Sorry. I know you hate PDA's."

Ray replied, "That's ok. I'll survive." He took the necklace and put it on her. After he fastened it, he leaned in and kissed the back of her neck. This sent chills all over Stella.

Thankfully, before they completely forgot that they were in public, Veronica arrived with their order. She also had a large folder under her arm.

"Hey, I was wondering if you could do me a favor? I have Charlie's posters, and since you'll see him before I will, could you bring them to him?"

"Of course!" said Stella. "But I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to come by himself." At this, Veronica blushed. Stella had the information she wanted.

Quickly, Veronica replied, "He's pretty busy, and this is way on the other side of town, I don't want to bother him."

"In giving him something he has coveted for years? I hardly think you'd be bothering him!" But Stella didn't want to embarrass Veronica. "I'll be happy to help you out, Veronica!"

"Thank-you!" she said, and she handed Stella the folder.

On their way home, Ray reminded Stella of dinner with his parents.

"So, Wednesday…" he began. He pulled over near her house. They stayed in the car.

Stella saw an out! "I can't on Wednesday. That's Charlie's live web interview. I promised I'd help him. So, oh well! Maybe another time?" _Like, never?_

"Yeah, I already thought about that. That's why we're having dinner early, 5:00."

"But probably meat, right? And doesn't your dad have crazy work hours?"

"There will be meatlessness for all the cute weirdos who don't enjoy animal carcass."

Stella shuddered. "Really? Did you have to go there? Gross!" She attempted her final strategy, "and your dad's hours?"

"Ever since Amanda and I got home from the hospital, he's been working from home more often. He said he could move around a few meetings for us."

Stella scowled. Defeated, she gave in, "OK."

Ray took her hand, and he said, "Thank-you." Then, he said, "You know how you said your parents are crazy old-fashioned and protective about how and whom their daughter dates?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, mine have always been the opposite. But I know my mom has always wanted to be more a part of my life, especially the girls part. I want to have a better connection to my parents, and they've been trying to have a better connection to me. Also…" but then he trailed off. He already felt like an idiot for talking this much about his relationship with his parents. He was reaching the end of his patience for this mushy crap.

Then, he looked down at his hand. And there was this delicate, beautiful other hand residing in it. Its partner reached up and touched his cheek.

Stella did not speak. She knew better than to coax more talk out of Ray than he was willing to give. Besides, she also knew by now that he would eventually say what he needed to, when he was ready. Instead of talking, she touched his scars from the car accident. Man, she loved those scars! Before, Ray was a total pretty-boy. Now, he was killer handsome, and everything inside of her melted into a puddle whenever she saw him. _It's funny how a few little flaws on what was once a supposedly "perfect" face have made it so much better…_

Her fingers on his small scars, her hand in his. _I don't think it's possible to feel any better than this. _That thought was immediately followed by, _aw, hell. It's not like she doesn't know everything I feel about her anyway._ He said out loud, "Also, with my parents, well, they never took an interest in the girls in my life, mostly because I've never wanted them to. But I do now."

"So that you can repair your family?"

"No, Stella. Because I want them to see how important you are to me." He turned to face her, "Look, I knew this is all still new, but no other girl has ever made me feel the way you do. You make me feel happy, and you make me feel like I want to be a better man. Hell, I feel more like a man than like a kid, because of you. My life is better because you are in it."

Stella let out a sigh, and said, "Wow." She kissed his hand, and she said, "You take my breath away." Unlike many of the other times that their conversations went serious, Ray did not give a sarcastic reply this time. So, because she wasn't sent into verbal sparring mode, Stella went on, and she told him exactly what was in her heart. "You are so confident, and you're incredibly funny, and you're insanely talented but you work hard at it and so you're even better, and you're smart, and – oh man – you're so handsome that my throat closes for a split second and my heart aches a little bit every time I see you. When you are in a room, everyone and everything else disappears. You're…like…" she searched for the right word, the apt comparison, "…sunshine. That's it! You're sunshine to me. You bring warmth and brightness and joy that glows inside me. So, I can't tell you how happy I am to know that I mean something like the same thing to you."

Ray was floored and speechless. He had nothing else to say, and there was no need. This was the time for his embrace to do the talking.


	16. Chapter 16

Dag burn work and family responsibilities! They had kept me tied up for every waking minute. But here we are in beloved spring break, and I'm REALLY trying to get this story wrapped up! Thank-you very much for your patience!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth

**Chapter 16**

Charlie stared at his computer, attempting to piece together his stupid English project, and fighting every urge to open his I.M. window.

In order to let everyone leave rehearsal at a decent hour, he promised everyone that he would stay up and finish the project on his own. He didn't feel right having everyone help him, not quite because of the cheating ethics, but mostly because he felt guilty about letting them down. He really needed to not take summer school, and the only way to do that would be to get on top of his work.

But the work was slow going and booooooring. He stared and blinked at the screen. He _really _wanted to open his I.M. to see if Veronica was there. But he knew that if he started talking to her, he would never get back to work. If he didn't finish this project, he didn't think he could face Olivia. She was one of his best friends – really, she was more like a sister – and he had to do right by her. So, he let the mental picture of her disappointed face be his motivation to stay on track.

Finally, at around 4, he finished. He hit print, and then he passed out on his desk.

Just a couple of hours later, he was awakened yet again by a text message. _Since when have my friends decided that they're my alarm clock?_ This time, it was from Mo, "Can we walk to school together today? I need to talk."

Charlie wanted to blow her off. He was still angry with her for getting on his case about Veronica, and he didn't want to hear yet another lecture from her.

However, back on that afternoon at Olivia's house, when they wrote "More Than a Band" together, they all vowed that they would always be there for one another. This meant always saying yes to anyone asking to talk.

Reluctantly, he replied with a yes and arranged to meet at the corner by his house in five minutes. He quickly got dressed, this time remembering to brush his hair. He grabbed his project and headed out to meet Mo.

"Charlie, what happened to your face?"

_That is exactly what you want to hear from the girl you've adored for nearly a year._ She must have noticed his scowl, because she was immediately contrite. "You have a red line across your cheek."

He touched his face, and he said, "I fell asleep on my desk, but I finished the stupid English project."

"That's great!" she said, but there was no happy tone in her voice. At this point, it finally dawned on Charlie to take notice of Mo. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"Do you have a cold?" he asked.

"No."

"Are you ok?"

"Yes." And then, "no." And then she started to cry. Charlie steered her to a bus stop bench that they were passing, and they sat down.

"Mo, what happened?" he asked.

"S-s-s-scott. Br-br-broke up with me," she sobbed.

"Again?" the word came out before Charlie could stop it. He cursed himself for being rude at this moment that Mo needed him. But as long as they were at this, he had to ask, "Did he cheat on you again?" Already, before Charlie knew it, he could feel anger well up inside of him. Charlie was neither violent nor confrontational, yet he could feel his hands ball up into fists at the thought of Scott hurting Mo like that again.

Mo shook her head emphatically, "NO!" Then, she gave a rueful smile. "It's kinda the opposite."

Charlie was shocked. "What? Did you cheat on him?"

"No!" Mo said. "But he thinks I did…or that I want to…"

"OK, now I'm lost," said Charlie.

Mo worked up the nerve to tell him. "He…he…thinks…I have…feelings…" Man, this was hard.

Charlie waited.

"For you, Charlie. He thinks I have feelings for you."

It was either the lack of sleep, or the strangeness of hearing Mo say the words, "I have feelings for you," even if it wasn't _exactly _what she said. But Charlie started to feel a little bit woozy. "What?" He finally managed to say.

Mo stood up and started walking again. She looked away from him. "Well, he thinks that the reason I'm so bothered by you and female fans is because I have a thing for you."

Charlie was trying to work all this out. Was she saying that maybe there was a hope with her after all? But oddly, he was also trying to figure out how he actually felt about that.

"What did you tell him?" he finally managed to say.

"That he was being ridiculous!"

_Great._ That answered Charlie's first question.

"So?"

"So, he said he didn't believe me and that I had to sort it out before…before we could be together again."

Usually, though with difficulty, Charlie accepted his platonic place in Mo's life. Recently, it had been made even more difficult by her need to insert herself in his personal life choices. But now, she dragged him out of bed (ok, desk) after about 2 hours' sleep, and she was confiding in him over her broken love life? He was at the end of his patience, but he did not want to fight with her. Yelling at her now would be kicking her while she was already down.

He mustered all the patience he could find to say, as calmly as he could, "So, Mo, why do you need to talk to me about this? What about Olivia and Stella? Aren't fellow girls better at this sort of thing?"

Mo replied, "I did. I talked to them last night. They thought that I should talk to you."

"Why?" Then, in response to her wounded facial expression, "it's just that I'm not sure what it is you need from me. You have made it clear that you aren't interested in me. But as long as we're here, I was kinda wondering the same thing: why do you have such a problem with me and female fans?"

For once, Mo did not launch into the speech she'd given countless times before. This time, she sighed, and she said, "I don't know."

Charlie was grateful to not here The Lecture yet again. But this new answer was not exactly satisfying, either. He tried his first question again. "Why did Olivia and Stella think that you should talk to me?"

"Well," she began. Then, she led Charlie down a path off the sidewalk. They'd used this path in middle school to get to the liquor store for candy nearly every afternoon. Being morning, the path was deserted.

"They think I should find out," she finished.

"Find out what?" said Charlie.

"If I have feelings for you."

Charlie gave her a dubious look. He had no idea what she meant to say or do in that regard.

Mo executed her plan. She faced Charlie, and she put her arms around his neck. She neared her face to his.

At that point, Charlie was certain that he must still be asleep on his desk. _This cannot really be happening._

But it was. Reality came in the form of a group of sixth grade boys running past them, with bags full of candy, and shouting, "EW!" and "Get a room!" and "Gross!"

They blushed and looked away from each other. Mo approached Charlie again, "Where were we?" She placed her arms around his neck again, and she leaned in.

The feel of Mo's hands on Charlie's neck sent a rapid-fire ambush of reactions in his mind. First of all, _THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!_ Then, _oh, crap, Scott's gonna kill me. _Followed by, _wait. They broke up. This can happen. This can really happen. _And finally – the most surprising one of all for Charlie – _I wonder what Veronica would think of this? _After that thought, unbidden, Charlie started to wish is was someone else's arms reaching up to draw him in for a kiss.

Charlie reached up and gently –albeit reluctantly – picked Mo's arms off of him.

Mo was surprised. "What is this, Charlie? Don't you like me anymore?"

"I don't know, Mo. I thought I was never going to get over you. But somehow, I think I have. You're great and beautiful. But we do not belong together. You belong with Scott. He's great. And you two are great."

Then, he said, "We have to get to school."

Mo was broken-hearted about Scott. And now, she was embarrassed about Charlie. Charlie didn't like being the cause of that. But he couldn't help how he felt, or rather, didn't feel.

Charlie now understood how Mo felt about letting him down. He didn't believe her when she had said, "I like you as a friend. I wish I liked you as more, but I just don't." But now, he got it. It is possible to want to have feelings for someone who is terrific and would be great for you, but to just not have those feelings.

And although he felt compassion for Mo's sorrowful state, he also felt an immense relief. He was _FINALLY_ released of her grasp on his heart. He felt light. He felt freed. He couldn't help himself; in spite of walking to school next to a girl who was using every ounce of strength she had to try to pull herself together, Charlie smiled to himself. His brain wouldn't stop placing a certain pair of sparkling green eyes in front of him.

Mo stopped walking. "Hey, Charlie. I need to be alone for a little bit. You go on without me."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'll see you at school."

"OK," he said, and he walked away from Mo, for good.


	17. Chapter 17

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 17**

"They WHAT?" Wen and Olivia were walking to school.

"They broke up," said Olivia calmly.

"Why? What happened? Scott didn't cheat on her _again_, did he? This is unbelievable." Wen could never believe the nerve of greedy guys: the kind that already landed super hot girls, and then they needed more. He certainly had no problem with guys getting all they could get, but he thought they should be honest about it: don't get serious about a girl unless you're really ready to forgo all others. "What an idiot," he said out loud.

"Actually, that's not what happened," said Olivia. "Scott broke up with Mo. He thinks she has feelings for Charlie."

"Oh no. This is terrible. What are we gonna do?"

"Why 'we', Wen? This isn't exactly our business."

"Of course it is, Liv! This totally affects the band. I mean, is he gonna leave the band now? Is she? If not, how do we deal with the awkwardness? This could totally kill us." He started nervously running his fingers through his hair and pacing a bit. "This is why bandmates don't date, shouldn't date. This is DISASTER!"

"Woah, wait. Did you just say that bandmates shouldn't date? What about us? Are you saying we shouldn't date? Are you having regrets about us?"

"Argh. No, sweetie, not at all. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." He took her hand, but she resisted him.

"Besides," she said, "I don't think it will come to that. I think it'll all be worked out for the Mo/Scott/Charlie situation."

"Why? How do you know?

"Well, Stella and I spent half the night talking to her."

"You must be exhausted."

"A bit."

"And?"

"We came up with a plan for her."

"A plan for what?"

"to find out if she has feelings for Charlie."

"WHAT? How?" Then, "She said she didn't. So, what's the question?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow at him. "Why else is she so freaked out about Charlie's fans?" She reminded him of a pair of British girls in New York who sent her blood boiling when they gushed about Wen.

"But that's different, Liv. You already knew how you felt about me. Mo keeps insisting that she loves Scott and that she only likes Charlie as a friend." Then, remembering what Olivia said, he asked her again, "How is Mo going to 'find out' if she has feelings for Charlie?"

Olivia said, "Well, Stella and I helped her devise a plan."

Wen was even more worried than before, but he remained calm, lest Olivia choose not to tell her what their scheme was. "What is it?"

"We told her to get herself alone with Charlie, and to…well…find out…if there's a spark."

"What, like, come on to him or something?" he asked, half laughing at the ridiculousness of that idea.

Olivia was not laughing.

"No, Liv, you didn't." He couldn't believe that someone as smart and as compassionate as Olivia would put Charlie in such a difficult position.

"Well, how else was she going to figure this out? She's talked herself blue in the face to Scott. And he refuses to believe her. So, if she gets to the bottom of it, then she'll know, and then she'll be able to solve it."

"Or, she'll make a HUGE mess of everything. Did you stop to consider what this could do to Charlie?"

"Well, maybe she'll find out she likes him, and then it'll all work out just fine for him."

"Or more likely, she'll confirm what she already knows: that she's not into him. And he, who's almost finally over her, will backslide and fall for her again."

Olivia was starting to doubt the plan that seemed so logical the night before, though in their defense it was hatched somewhere in the sleepless delirium of the 2 am hour. However, she needed to defend the plan, especially since it was likely already under way. "But maybe she does have feelings for him. Again, why does she stress so much about Charlie's female fans? If she didn't have feelings for him, then she wouldn't freak out at the thought of other girls liking him, right?"

"Not necessarily," said Wen.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's another possibility," he said carefully. He knew he was now going to have to tell Olivia something about his past that was incredibly shameful to him.

"What is it?"

"Sometimes…" He stalled. She wasn't going to get this. She was too kind-hearted. Well, he started, so he had to finish. "Sometimes…some people…like the feeling of someone liking them, even if they don't like them back."

"I guess it's a compliment," said Olivia. Mostly, she felt uncomfortable about people she wasn't interested in being into her. She didn't like for people to feel disappointed, and for her to possibly be the cause of that.

"It's kinda more than that," said Wen. He took a deep, audible breath before he went on. "Sometimes, you don't want the compliment to end. Even if you're not interested in the person, you don't want them to lose interest in you."

"Weird, and kinda self-centered. But there's really nothing you can do about that. I mean, you can't control someone else's feelings and where they go."

"If they're into you, you kinda can."

"How?"

"Mostly, you keep them from becoming interested in anyone else."

"Again, how?"

"Lots of ways, but mostly two main strategies: either disapprove of anyone who shows interest in the person who likes you."

"Or…"

Wen swallowed hard. His throat had suddenly gone very dry. "You show a little bit of interest in them whenever their interest in you starts to wane, but only enough interest to keep them hooked on you."

Olivia's eyes went wide and then darkened with disgust. "Well, that's just cruel," she said. "Mo wouldn't do something like that, especially not to Charlie."

"It happens, Liv. People do it."

"Yeah, awful, heartless people. People who delight in the misery of others, just to inflate their pathetic egos."

"Kind of. Something like that." He walked a little bit ahead of her, looking straight ahead. He was ashamed of himself, true, but he still didn't like the insults she hurled at him, even if she didn't realize she was talking about him.

"Wait up, Wen. What is it?"

And he kept walking.

Because Olivia was shorter than Wen, she had to take two steps at a time to keep up with his loping. Before long, she found herself winded from trotting alongside him.

"Wen, please," she panted, "just slow down a bit."

He stopped, and he faced her. "Don't you wonder how I know this?"

"Because maybe someone did it to you?" she said.

"Maybe. Or…" he looked away as his voice trailed off. He couldn't bear to see her reaction to this. But he needed to man up and face her.

Olivia's face went pale. "You did it to someone else?" Her voice was little more than a breath.

Wen frowned as he looked at her. "Yeah."

"Wen, how could you? Why would you be so heartless?"

"I'm not proud of it. It was 8th grade. My mom had just left us. I was feeling incredibly lonely and rejected, by the person who's supposed to love you unconditionally forever. She just up and left Georgie and my dad and me. I was a mess, bad enough to make middle school a refuge." His weak attempt at a joke did not lighten Olivia's darkened expression.

He went on. "I had these two best friends, both girls. You don't know them; they didn't go to our elementary school."

Wen and Olivia went to the same elementary school, but separate middle schools. Her grandma thought that a tiny private school would be a more nurturing environment for Olivia after everything that had happened with her parents.

Wen continued with his story. "Well, about halfway through the year, one of them told me one day that the other one liked me, and had liked me for all of middle school. I was flattered, cuz I loved her as people and all. The thing is, I just wasn't into her like that. But I liked that she liked me. It made me feel like less of some kind of damaged goods that even a mother doesn't want. So, whenever she started to seem happy around another guy, I would make sure to talk to her, write her a note, give her a compliment. It was always enough to re-spark her interest in me."

Olivia looked completely disgusted with Wen. "That poor girl suffered, because you couldn't get over your parents' divorce?"

Wen got angry. "Like I just said, I'm not proud of it. In fact, I'm pretty disgusted with myself over the whole thing. And you know what? Cut me a line of slack. My parents didn't break up mutually. My mother actively decided to leave us. I can't imagine the kind of pain you must endure with your mother dying, Liv. But at least it wasn't her _choice_ to leave you."

Before she could reply, he ended with, "You are always so understanding of everyone around you. Can't you offer some of that understanding to me?"

She was silent.

"Can't you?" he repeated. Her face was blank.

"Wonderful. This is just great." With that, he stormed off ahead of her to school.

"Wen, wait!" Olivia called. But it was too late; he was too far ahead to hear her.


	18. Chapter 18

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 18**

In another part of town, Ray picked up a very sleepy Stella for school.

Upon seeing her drooping eyes and scraggly hair pulled back in a head band, he said, "I didn't get you home that late last night. What happened?"

"Charming," Stella said. Then, Ray took her hand and kissed it, keeping eye contact with her. "Is that charming?"

"Cheesy." (she did get a bit squishy inside at the way he looked at her, but she wasn't about to let him know right then). Extracting her hand, she said, "If you were up half the night talking to Mo, you'd look sleepy, too. But I guess you talked to Scott?"

"Should I have?" he asked.

Stella was shocked. "Seriously? He didn't call you?"

Ray was nearing impatience. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Oh my gosh, you can't be serious. He didn't even bring it up to his best friend? What a heartless jerk he is."

Although he had a sister and a mother, Ray did not speak girl. He was only comprehensive enough of the language to know that he wasn't going to get any information from Stella anytime soon, so he changed gears. "Well, he did come over and give me a perm while I did his nails. But we didn't talk much because the latest Nicholas Sparks novel was made into a Hallmark Channel movie, so we were watching it instead."

"OK," said Stella. "Good point." With two brothers, a father, and two male best friends, Stella knew that you had to speak very plainly to guys when giving information. "Scott and Mo broke up last night."

"Oh," Ray said calmly.

"You don't sound terribly surprised."

"He has seemed kind of annoyed with her lately." Stella raised an eyebrow at him. He replied, "What? Dudes aren't totally devoid of observation skills. We do kinda dominate the detective and spy professions."

Stella rolled her eyes, but she decided that the women-in-the-workplace discussion could wait for another day.

He opened her car door, and she got in. "OK, Mr. Know-it-all, tell me why they broke up."

"I'm guessing it had something to do with Charlie."

"Well done."

"So, what was it exactly?"

"Scott thinks that maybe Mo has a thing for Charlie, since she goes all ape about his fans and all."

"But she doesn't?"

"No. But…"

"What?"

"Well, Olivia and I, round about half past I-really-gotta-sleep o'clock, convinced Mo that she should find out for sure whether or not she has a thing for Charlie."

Ray didn't like the sound of it. And by the tone of Stella's voice, he was guessing that she regretted the plan, too. "What did you tell her to do?"

"Well…"

"Out with it."

"We told her to get Charlie alone, and make a move, like, maybe, kiss him, to see if there were sparks."

They were at a stop light. Ray turned to face her. "Stella, I think that's a really bad idea."

"I'm too tired to fight you on this. But let me at least tell you what I was thinking: all this stuff hanging in the air has to stop. It needs to get out, even if it ends up poorly. Mo/Scott, Mo/Charlie, whatever. But it has to stop."

Green light. He faced forward and began to drive again. "Everything doesn't always have to come out in the open, Stella. Sometimes, some things just need time to work themselves out or to just pass."

"I don't disagree with you, Ray. But this tension with the three of them is growing, not passing. It needs to be decided."

"Yeah, but there are too many possible bad outcomes here. One is, let's say she does discover feelings for Charlie. Where does that leave Scott? And what if Charlie is finally over her? Or what if he's _almost _over her, and then she kisses him, but discovers she isn't into him? Now he's back to square one with her, rather without her and then having to start all over in getting over her."

The combination of lack of sleep and Ray's doomsday predictions were starting to make Stella feel queezy. She slouched in her seat, trying to make herself small.

"….and finally, how's this going to affect the band? Is Scott out, or is he still in? How will rehearsal be?"

They pulled into the parking lot. Stella mumbled something.

"What was that?" Ray asked.

"I was just trying to help," she said a little bit louder. He looked over at her, and he felt alarmed. She was a tiny ball in her seat, and she was nibbling at her fingernails.

"Stella." No answer. "Sweetie." He touched her face, her incredibly pale face. She looked up at him, panicked.

"Ray, I can't lose the band. It's my life. What am I going to do?"

"Nothing, dear. This time, let it pass. Everyone else loves the band and their music as much as you do. They'll come back to it."

"Bands break up over this kind of thing all the time, Ray."

"But you're band is different, for two reasons. One, you'll 'always be more than a band'."

"You know our lyrics!"

"Yeah, well, they're kinda catchy…" He got out of the car, and walked around to open her door. She didn't move to get out of the car. He put his hand out to her. She reluctantly took it. As she stood up, she asked, "And what was the second thing?"

He looked her straight in the eye, smiled, and said, "you."

"Huh?"

"Stella, you are an unstoppable force. If you want something to happen, it will, and that's that." He kissed her hand again, but this time it was to comfort her.

It worked. She said, "Thank-you, Ray." and she gave him a weak smile.

He kissed the top of her head. Then, he took her hand and walked her toward her class.

"Look, it's high school drama. It'll probably pass by lunch, long before practice after school. And there's a game today, so Scott won't be there. That should buy some more time to smooth things over."

Stella perked up. She said, "This whole 'heart grew three sizes' version of you isn't half bad, Raymond."

"Call me Raymond again, and I'll go back to my old self."

"OK," she said, back in the small voice.

"Yikes, Yamada. You really need to get some sleep. This defeated thing just does not suit you."

"It's not the sleep, Beech. It's the worrying about the state of the band."

"It'll be fine." At the door of Stella's first period class, Ray gave her a huge, embarrassing-for-public kiss, and said, "I'll see you later."

Stella said, "Thanks, sweetheart."

Ray whispered in her ear, "You saved my life, and I'll spend as long as it takes trying to repay you for it." With that, he took leave of her and went to his class.


	19. Chapter 19

I do not own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 19**

Just a few minutes into first period, Stella got a text from Mo. "English hall bathroom." Stella got a hall pass and went to meet the girls.

Olivia was already there. She didn't look good.

"You look as tired as I feel," Stella said.

"Yeah," replied Olivia, vaguely. "Is Mo here yet?"

"No, and this better be good. My math teacher makes us use our extra credit points for hall passes."

At that, Mo entered. "Hi. Thanks for coming."

"Well, what happened? Did you see him?" asked Stella.

"Yeah," said Mo.

"Well?" asked Stella again. Olivia remained quiet.

"He stopped me from kissing him."

"What?" said Stella.

"He did?" asked Olivia, her tone hopeful, even verging on eager.

"I walked to school with him, and I got him alone. I started to kiss him, but he stopped me."

"But he's crazy about you," said Olivia. "Why would he stop you?"

Stella interjected, "Less important right now. The more pressing matter is, how did you feel about it?"

"Pretty humiliated," said Mo. "Wouldn't you?"

"Besides that," said Stella. "Did you feel sparks when you were near him? Other than embarrassed, what did you feel about him not wanting you? Sad? Disappointed? Think!"

Mo said, "I had a long walk – alone – to school to think about it."

"And?" said Stella.

"Nothing. I felt nothing. As I got closer to him, I kept thinking about Scott. All I wanted was to be back with him. Being with Charlie felt completely wrong. I mean, he's great and all. But he's not for me."

Stella heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"Well, that's good that the question is answered," said Olivia. "But we're far from solving all of this. I mean, it's not like Mo can go up to Scott and say, 'yeah, so I tried to kiss Charlie, and then I found out that I don't really like him. So, take me back?'"

"True," said Stella, "A bit harsh, but true." She gave Olivia an inquisitive look. "Liv, you OK?"

"Sorry," said Olivia. She changed the subject. "So, back to the mystery of why Charlie put you off…"

"You mean, totally rejected me?" said Mo.

"Let's keep it at 'put you off'. Remember, you're not into him." With that, Olivia had a little bit of an edge to her voice.

Stella said, "I think I know."

They both looked at her, waiting for her explanation. She said, "I think he might be into that Veronica girl." Olivia nodded thoughtfully. Both of them turned to Mo to study her expression.

"The girl from the park?" she said.

"Yes, and from the coffee shop," said Stella.

Olivia said, "You have to be ok with this, Mo. You're not into him. Why do you freak about his fans?"

"And to be truthful," said Stella. "She's not a normal fan girl. She likes our music and appreciates our work. And she totally respects our privacy. The other day, she refused to let Charlie give her his phone number, and _she_ was the one doing him a favor."

"She did?" asked Mo. "I know, you guys. You're right. I do freak out about Charlie's fans."

"Why?" asked Stella.

Mo sighed, "I don't know."

"I think you do know," said Olivia, with a hint of darkness in her voice.

"Excuse me?" said Mo.

"Maybe you want Charlie to keep liking you."

"Olivia, that's horrible," said Stella.

"I know that it seems that way, and I'm not trying to be mean."

"Well, you're kinda succeeding at it," said Stella. Mo remained quiet.

Olivia was contrite. "I'm sorry. I'll try again. Look, it's apparently a totally normal thing for someone to enjoy that someone they value likes them, and so they want to keep that feeling alive, even though they don't want to be with the person that likes them."

"Where have you ever heard of such a thing?" said Stella, clearly disgusted.

Olivia approached Mo. She took hold of both of Mo's hands, and she looked in her eyes. "Mo, do you think that could maybe be it?"

Stella answered for Mo, "Of course not! That's just wrong, and mean, and Mo would never do such a thing to Charlie."

Olivia ignored Stella. "Mo?" She waited silently.

Mo crumpled and began to weep. "You know what? I think it is. I'm so ashamed of myself. He's such a great guy. And I'm not into him. But I don't want to see him with some other girl."

"Oh Mo, really?" said Stella.

"Don't judge," said Olivia. "It happens sometimes. Perfectly good people do it. She wasn't trying to hurt him." Then to Mo (she was still holding her hands), "Don't feel bad about it, Mo. But you do need to let him go. OK?"

Mo looked up at Olivia, and saw her loving, forgiving eyes. They were the anchors she desperately needed. She nodded and said, "OK, I will. Thank-you, Olivia." Olivia hugged her best friend. Stella was still confused about all of this, but she was relieved to see her friends coming to a break-through that might actually result in _not_ losing the band. She threw her arms around the both of them.

Finally, Stella said, "All right, we need to get back to class before they send in a search team after us."

They went back to class, all feeling much better than they had ten minutes prior. But they also knew that they had some work to do before they were completely out of the dark.


	20. Chapter 20

As apology for them being such short chapters, I'm putting two up in the same night. I hope you enjoy this one!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 20**

Second period was English. This was the class Olivia had with Wen. She wondered how bad things were with them.

When Wen walked in, he saw Olivia. She tried to make eye contact with him. But the second he saw her, he looked away. She slouched in her seat in disappointment.

Every day, the teacher had a warm-up activity on the board. Today, the activity was "Vocab. Blast". Everyone groaned as they saw it.

"Vocab. Blast" was when they had to write a paragraph which incorporated as much of that week's vocabulary list as possible. It was always a surprise as to how the teacher was going to grade it: quiz grade, extra credit, homework grade, or just participation points. Therefore, everyone was motivated to actually do it (instead of appear to be doing their warm-up, while actually finishing homework, like they did on the other days).

Everyone quickly got to work. A few minutes into the period, Mrs. Nelson called their attention. "All right, let's see how many words you were able to use. Make sure you underlined them. Do I have any volunteers to read their paragraph out loud?" No one ever volunteered, except Marla Lamplighter, who volunteered _every _day. But she was out sick on this day.

Just as Mrs. Nelson was going to choose someone to read, a hand tentatively went up. "Wen?" said Mrs. Nelson, incredulous. "Would you like to read?" Wen nodded.

At the front of the room, a long blonde mane turned in surprise. Olivia had never once heard Wen read out loud in class.

He read, in the commanding voice he usually reserved for the stage: "Recently, I confessed a transgression of my past to a loved one. I had expected her to immediately bequeath consideration to me. Instead, she rebuked me. I was taken by surprise. I have discovered in myself a propensity to expect this person to immediately accept everything about me, no matter how repulsive. I was incorrect to take her for granted. I wish to relegate that from my side of our relationship. I will never forget her countenance when I revealed my past behavior, such disappointment from someone so beloved was truly heart-breaking. Until this morning, we have had a consonate relationship. I hope that she can forgive my callous behavior, so that I can again experience the felicity that she gives me."

After about two beats of silence, Madison Crawford, who sat in front of Wen, turned around and said, "Holy crap, Wen!" He furrowed his brow in confusion at her reaction. Mrs. Nelson was a bit more appropriate: "Well-done, Wen! I have never heard anyone use _all _of the words in a Vocab. Blast! You even included the week's phrase."

Connor Melvich muttered, "oh great, rock star _and _super genius."

"That's unnecessary, Connor," said Mrs. Nelson. And she continued with class as always.

Wen spent the rest of the period staring at the back of Olivia's head. She was slouching, and she was trying very hard to be motionless.

When the bell _finally_ rang, Wen made a bee-line to Olivia's desk. He crouched at her side, studying her face. "Liv? Can you forgive me?"

Olivia turned to face him. She was still blushing (as she had been all period). But there was something more in her face. It was, well, glowing. She made eye contact with Wen, and he felt all the love in her heart, right at that moment. He smiled at her. He stood up, and he held his hand out for her. She took it. He helped her up, and they walked out together.

Once outside the classroom, they found a quiet corner. She leaned up, and she kissed his cheek. "Your paragraph was lovely. Thank-you."

"Did I embarrass you?"

"I'm mostly relieved that you're not disappointed in me."

"You? Never. I was totally in the wrong there. I dropped a total bomb-shell on you, and I didn't give you any time to process it. I was out of line."

Olivia shook her head. "I should have been more understanding, and I wasn't. Someone once told me that people should never be held accountable for what they do in junior high. I don't know if I totally agree with that. But junior high is a weird time, under the best of circumstances. And you didn't have the best of circumstances."

"All the same," said Wen, "once I figure out what I was doing to her, I felt pretty sick about it. And I lost both of those friends. I started high school without any friends, totally due to my mistake. And totally deserved."

Olivia stopped his reverie with a kiss, running her fingers through his hair. "Well, now you're much beloved. Also totally deserved."

"I'm mostly lucky, to be loved by the sweetest, bravest, most adorable girl on the planet." She tried to return the compliment, but he interrupted her with many kisses.


	21. Chapter 21

Thank-you for your patience, folks! I'm working on moving more quickly.

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 21**

Veronica felt like she was going to throw up. She was about to leave her mother's car and enter the school. She froze, hand on the car door handle, in abject terror.

She had lucked out of school the day before; the day was cancelled due to a freak power loss (best senior prank ever!). She had expected to spend the day lounging around in yoga pants and a t-shirt before work, but Stacy would have none of it. Instead, they spent the day with Stacy teaching Veronica fashion, make-up, and hair style tips. Veronica was never happier to get to work than she was that night. And at work, she was rewarded with a visit to the coffee house from Stella and Ray. She felt a little bit of disappointment at giving Stella the posters, instead of waiting for Charlie. But she didn't want him to feel obligated to come see her. If he were to see her, she'd rather that he _want _to see _her. _Something about Stacy's makeover was starting to give Veronica a new sense of self-possession. And she liked it.

But all that bravado took leave of her Tuesday morning. She got up early, in order to get herself ready before Stacy came over to man-handle her. She assembled an outfit, and did her hair and make-up, using Stacy's lessons. By the time Stacy arrived, ready to drag Veronica out of bed kicking and screaming, Veronica was already ready.

"Mac! You're awake, and so early! Have you ever even seen this side of 7 am?"

Veronica gave her a withering glare. "Shut up."

"OK, let's see how you've done. Turn around." Veronica spun dutifully. Stacy took it in and nodded, "OK, that'll do. Yes, that's a nice look."

Veronica replied, in her best 2-year-old imitation: "You like-y? I did it all by myself! I a big girl!"

Now it was Stacy's turn to give the withering glare. "Let's go, Neeca-Neeca."

"Don't!" Neeca-Neeca was Veronica's nickname from early childhood. When Stacy started taking Spanish in high school, she found out that "nicas" is Spanish slang for a person's behind. Ever since then, she'd teased Veronica that she would tell everyone at school about the nickname.

Now, here they were, facing school. Stacy left the car, said good-bye to Mrs. McKenna, and started to walk toward the entrance. A few steps away, she realized that Veronica wasn't next to her. She turned back to see Veronica standing outside of the car, but still with one hand gripping the door handle.

"Come on, Mac! We're going to be late!"

"I don't know if I can do this," said Veronica in a small voice. From inside the car, her mom said, "You can, sweetie. You look gorgeous."

"I'm not an on-stage person, like you, mom."

"Maybe you won't be as 'on-stage' as you fear. And in case it's just too hard to do, here." Her mother handed her the head-kerchief she always wore at work. Oddly, it comforted Veronica greatly that her mother was giving her an escape route.

"Thanks, Mom," said Veronica, taking the kerchief. "You're the best."

"Quick, stick it in your backpack before Stacy sees it!" She gave her daughter's hand a squeeze, and she drove away.

Stacy walked back to Veronica. "Look, we have first period together, so I'll be at your side for the first hour of school. You'll be fine."

"OK," said Veronica.

Stacy smiled wickedly. "Just wait until Stupid Jordan sees you….boy will he rue the day he didn't see your awesomeness before!"

Oddly enough, in all of this, Veronica hadn't given much thought to Jordan. There was someone else whose eye she was hoping to catch. But she had to push that pie-in-the-sky idea from her mind.

"Stop slouching!" barked Stacy. "It'll make you look worse than you did before. You always have to _own_ your appearance. You can't make such a HUGE change, and then try to hide it."

Though grateful to Stacy for all of her help, Veronica was nearing the end of her patience with all of Stacy's instructions. "All right! I've got it!" This actually proved to be helpful: her annoyance with Stacy distracted her enough to enter the school without fear of being stared at or laughed at.

They walked onto campus, and…nothing. "Oh yeah, we're freshmen," thought Veronica out loud. "And 2 out of 500 freshmen," said Stacy.

Veronica began to relax a bit, until they entered their first period. That was a room full of people who actually knew who she was. Mostly, however, they pretended to be nonchalant. But Ally MacPherson couldn't feign non-interest. Generally, Ally tended to be even more effusive than Stacy. She ran to Veronica, shouting, "OMIGOD VERONICA YOU LOOK SOOOOOOO CUTE!"

"Thank-you, Ally," said Veronica, a little bit self-conscious. Then, she said, "Ouch! Cut it out, Stacy!" Stacy had jabbed her in the back. "You were slouching."

The rest of the morning went relatively uneventfully, with some compliments from the girls and a few second glances from the guys (Veronica had never received _first _glances from guys; she could get used to this!).

Then came lunch. There was a M.A.C. meeting that day. Veronica didn't have any classes with Jordan, so this is the first time that he would see her since her makeover. She got nervous all over again. True, she was thinking less about him recently, but her feelings for him hadn't exactly completely disappeared. Then again, he had hurt her significantly by asking for Stacy's number. At the end of it all, even if she wasn't sure what she wanted out of him, she did want him to notice her.

She walked into the classroom. He was at the whiteboard, his back to her, writing the agenda.

"Hi," she greeted him.

"Hey, I was just thinking the club could, WOW!" he finally turned and saw her. "Ronnie, you look terrific!"

"Thank-you!" she said.

Other members of the club filed in, and the meeting began. Throughout the meeting, Jordan kept stealing glances at Veronica. She _loved _it! Yes, her feelings for him were becoming ambiguous. But it did still feel immensely terrific to have the guy she'd been chasing forever finally show her interest. She felt, well, victorious.

Too soon, the bell rang. Veronica prepared to leave, when Jordan stopped her. "Hey, Ronnie?"

"Yes?," she said.

"Um, I, um, did you ever get my text on Saturday? You never replied."

"I did," she said. He looked embarrassed.

Veronica was incapable of letting someone feel embarrassed, even someone who hurt her feelings. She quickly added, "But I was super exhausted that night, and then totally slammed with work and school stuff since then. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you."

"No, no. Forget about it. Actually, I was wondering if maybe you were free tomorrow? There's a woodwind quartet playing at the community college. I think you might be interested in them for the coffee shop. And maybe we can go get a bite afterward?"

_Oh man, I think he just asked me out! _This produced a rapid-fire series of split-second thoughts in her:

Her initial reaction was to want to shout, "YES! I'd love to!" Then, she remembered that she had already promised to help Stacy with the Charlie interview the next day. Charlie. Charlie! Veronica was loyal by nature, but most especially so to Stacy. There is no way she would ever break a commitment to Stacy, even if for a date with her dream guy. Ironically, that is the one way Stacy would let her off the hook. Heck, Stacy would let her off the hook if Veronica got a date with _any _guy. However, that this particular commitment to Stacy happened to afford her an opportunity to talk to Charlie didn't exactly make Veronica's choice to choose Stacy over Jordan terribly difficult.

Out loud, she said, "Wow, that sounds great! But I promised Stacy I'd help her with her web site tomorrow. She's interviewing Charlie Delgado from Lemonade Mouth, and she needs help fielding questions."

"That is so cool! Well, then, are you free Friday? Maybe we can hang out or go to dinner or something?"

Veronica was free on Friday. But did she want to go out with him? She considered finding a polite way to say no, or perhaps to go out with him, to see if she still liked him.

But then, out of nowhere, an inner attitude came through for the always-polite, always-thinking-of-others Veronica. She said, "That sounds nice, Jordan. But if I remember correctly, you're interested in Stacy. And I think I'd rather be alone than to be your second choice." He had no reply. In fact, he stared at her, slack-jawed. Veronica had never spoken like that to anyone in her life.

As she walked away from Jordan, she felt a tiny bit guilty about being rude to him. But mostly, she felt _**terrific**_!


	22. Chapter 22

I don't own Lemonade Mouth

**Chapter 22**

Stacy found Veronica at her locker after school.

"Well? Did he flip when he saw you?"

"Yes."

"Did he ask you out?"

"Yes."

"YES! I knew it! _OMIGOD!_ Where is he taking you?"

"I said no."

"No way!"

"Yeah."

Stacy paused a second, and then she said, "Good for you!"

"Wait. What?" Veronica was stunned.

"He's an idiot for not seeing your greatness all along, and he doesn't deserve you!"

"I thought you wanted me to get a guy."

"No, Mac. All these years and you really don't know me? What I want is for you to be happy. And if that's with a guy, he'd better be worthy of you!" Veronica hugged her best friend. She said, "Stacy, you really are the best."

"Takes one to know one!" Over Veronica's shoulder, she saw someone unusual in the quad. "OMIGOD Mac, it's Mo! Here!"

Veronica turned around to see a lost-looking Mo wandering in the quad. "I wonder what she's doing here?"

"Let's go talk to her!" And Stacy started toward her. Veronica grabbed her arm and said, "WAIT Stace. Let's not bombard her, ok?"

"Then, you need to come with me to make sure I don't spaz."

They approached her, and Veronica said, "Mo?"

Mo jumped at the sound of her name. She was still getting used to strangers knowing her name, and also, in this instance, she was lost in concentration. She turned to face the girls.

"Oh, hi! Stacy, from Azure, right? And you're Veronica, from the park?" They both nodded, but Stacy couldn't let it go at that. She couldn't hold back the gush: "OMIGOD you must meet hundreds of people every day, and you totally remembered our names! I can't believe it! You're SO NICE! And ouch!" Veronica's elbow in her ribs caught her by surprise.

Veronica asked, "Are you looking for something?"

"Yeah, the soccer field," said Mo. "Do you know where the JV game is playing?"

"Uh," they said. Neither of them ever listened to the morning announcements, and neither of them watched the soccer games. But Veronica happened to notice a poster behind Mo that announced the game against Mesa for that afternoon. She pointed at it, "It's at the main field. Thank goodness for the Poster Committee." Veronica and Stacy both burst into laughter. They had ongoing jokes against the Poster Committee, such as how many trees they killed on Earth Day with ads about recycling, and how the ASB elections were decided on how many posters each candidate had, etc.

Mo said, "So, where's that?"

"Oh, we'll take you there!" said Stacy. And after another jab from Veronica, she said, "And then we have to go. My mom is probably already waiting in the parking lot for us, and we both have to get to work."

Mo could not disguise her visible relief. She covered it by saying, "I'm glad I found you! I thought I'd spend the whole afternoon wandering around here, haha."

They took her to the field, such as it was. Unlike Mesa High School, Saguaro High did not have a huge sports drink corporate sponsor. They did not have a stadium. Rather, they shared a stadium with three other high schools, in a city park. It was only used for varsity games. For JV and frosh/soph games, the school had a track with some collapsible stands for the couple dozen parents that went to those games.

"All right, here we are," said Stacy. She stalled for a moment, before Veronica started to pull on her arm. "OK, well, see you later!" And true to their word, they left.

Mo was relieved. She needed to do this alone.

Scott had been on the varsity soccer team, but he had missed so much practice due to Lemonade Mouth gigs, that his coach bumped him to JV. He – and the rest of Mesa High School – was relieved to not get completely kicked off the team.

Mo never went to any of Scott's soccer games. She wasn't interested in soccer (much to the chagrin of her father and the rest of the Indian community), even if her boyfriend was the star of the team (well, second to Ray). Before Lemonade Mouth, Mo went to _everything_ that Scott was involved in: band rehearsal, soccer games, even soccer practice. But once she had decided to assert herself as her own person with her own opinions, she declared that she would no longer be a part of Scott's soccer life. Scott accepted that as part of the terms of their getting back together, and so he never asked her to go. In fact, he stopped even telling her when the games were.

Mo knew that Scott liked it when she had gone to his games in the past. She thought this would be a good way to try to win him back.

But as she neared the soccer field, doubt started to creep in. What if he didn't want to see her? What if her presence angered him enough to play poorly? Or, what if he did take her back, only to dump her again after finding out that she had tried to kiss Charlie?

No matter what the outcome, Mo was certain that nothing could possibly feel worse than she did right now. She had to try, and if it didn't work, then she would try something else. She knew now more than ever that she loved Scott more than she had ever loved anyone else. And even if he didn't want her back, she at least needed for him to know how she truly felt.

She took a seat in the stands directly behind Mesa's team bench, the place where she had always sat before. She was a nervous wreck: first, she would start to hope that he would turn around and see her, and then terror would settle in, and she would hope that he wouldn't. _The not knowing is worse than the worst outcome, _she kept reminding herself. It became a chant inside her head. She even muttered it out loud a few times.

Scott was on the field warming up. The athletes cleared the field, and they returned to their team benches to await the start of the game. Mo watched Scott near the bench, and she tried to stand up, to catch his eye, but she couldn't. Her legs wouldn't let her, due to her nerves. There was no need to stand, anyway. Scott glanced up at the stands, and he saw her. He made a double-take. She was really there. This made no sense. First of all, Mo _hated_ soccer. Second of all, she stopped going to his games when they got back together. And finally, they broke up. He was completely confused.

Mo got frightened. What if the surprise of seeing her affected his playing? She tried to give him a smile that said, "I'm so sorry. I love you. Please take me back." But because she was so terrified of all the doomsday outcomes she had created in the previous hour, her expression mostly said, "Ergh, uh, hi? I think I have to pee. But maybe I'll throw up first."

Scott, being a man in love, did not see that. He saw the most beautiful girl he knew, giving him the most adorable smile he had ever seen. But they weren't together, and her split attention to Charlie had hurt Scott. But there she was, and just so pretty. All of that gave him an equally strange facial expression back at her: one eyebrow up, half of his mouth curled up in a smile, the other half of his mouth trying to remain stoic, his eyes completely on hers. She chose to take is as a hopeful sign.

Then the game started. It was the longest soccer game in the history of the sport, as far as Mo was concerned. The good news was the Scott played well. Apparently, Mo's appearance gave him the boost he had needed for awhile to re-gain his focus.

When the game _finally_ ended, Scott approached Mo. Even though he was thinking and feeling a million things, he could only think of one thing to say: "What are you doing here, Mo?"

Mo was ready for that. She said, "I wanted to see you."

He didn't know how to properly say, "WHY?", so instead, he said, "How did you get here?"

"I took the bus."

"You did?" She went to all that trouble, to watch him play soccer, something she hates to do.

"Yes." She hoped he would understand the meaning of this. In case he didn't, she said, "I'd do much more, if you could just give me another chance."

Scott frowned. He wanted to talk to her, but this wasn't the time for this conversation. He needed to be with his team. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but feel happy to know that Mo had gone through so much effort to see him. He said, "I have to go back with the team. Is there any way you could meet me at school?"

"Yes, of course." She turned to walk away. Scott stopped her. "Mo?"

"Yes?"

"I'm happy you came to the game."

She smiled at him.

A half hour later, Scott was sitting at the bus stop in front of their school, waiting for Mo. When her bus arrived, he met her at the door, and he put out his hand to help her down the stairs. Scott's small gentlemanly gestures always sent shivers all over Mo.

At the bottom of the steps, he held onto her hand for just a moment longer, but then he let go. "So, Mo, what's going on?"

"Scott, I want you back. I definitely do _not_ want Charlie. I understand why you thought so, but I don't."

"Mo, it's not as simple as that. I wish I could believe you. I can't tell you how much I wish that. But I just don't know."

"OK, here's the deal. I _promise_ I'll stop paying attention to Charlie's interaction with fans, and to his love life."

"That only partially solves the problem."

Mo swallowed and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Well, I know for a fact that I definitely do not have any feelings for Charlie."

"How is that?"

Mo looked down as she mustered up the courage to tell him. "OK, well, when I was up on the phone most of the night with Stella and Olivia, we came up with an idea to test if I had any feelings for him."

Warily, Scott said, "What was it?"

Wringing her hands, Mo looked away and said, "Well…they thought that…well…maybe the best way to find out if I had feelings would be to…well…hold a sort of…well…experiment."

"What experiment?" Scott asked, a bit darkly.

Mo's nervous fingers found her hair. She ran her fingers through the back of her head, and she repeatedly grabbed and let go of a handful of hair. "Well…we thought that I should find out if we had chemistry. And, well, there's really only one way to find that out."

"And that is…?"

"…to kiss him."

Scott said nothing. He raised his eyebrows in the unspoken question.

Mo replied, "Yes. I did." She was surprised to see his expression. He was not angry. He looked…curious. She was relieved. After all, she had the right answer.

"And nothing. No chemistry. No feelings. Nothing at all. The only thing I kept thinking was that I missed you and I wanted you back."

Scott said nothing.

"Scott, I love you. You. ONLY you. I'm miserable without you. I was able to find my happiness without you before. And I suppose I could do it again. But I just don't want to. I can be happy without with, but with you, I'm over-the-top filled with joy. I'm so stupid that I risked that."

"OK, I get it," said Scott. "You want us back. You don't have feelings for Charlie. But why did it take such an elaborate plan to figure that out? Why did you need to find out whether or not you had feelings? And all this still doesn't explain why you freak out over his fans. And as miserable as I am without you-"

This gave Mo hope.

"-I don't want us back until that is settled."

Mo replied, "I think I have that figured out, too. But it doesn't speak well to my character."

"You can tell me."

Mo found that telling Scott this part was the most difficult. Kissing Charlie was bad, but technically she and Scott were broken up when she did it, and Scott had once full-blown cheated on her. This is a severe mar on her character, and there's really no reasoning that away.

She took a huge breath and then came out with it. "OK, well, Olivia has a theory that maybe, even though I'm not interested in Charlie, I like the ego boost of him liking me. Unconsciously, I want to keep him liking me. And that's why I've been keeping him from other girls." She continued. "But now that I know that, I'm going to stop. It's completely wrong and unfair of me to hold Charlie away from finding his own happiness. I'm pretty disgusted with myself about this."

Scott took a couple of silent breaths. And then he said, "Don't be so hard on yourself. It happens to all of us."

"You?"

"Yeah. I used to do it to Jules. In fact, that last time…that you…well…that was because she was showing interest in Dean. And I wanted her back to liking me."

"Oh!" There was so much to respond to there. First of all, her usual ire regarding Jules rose. And then disappointment in Scott over keeping someone hanging on him, followed immediately by relief that he knew what she was talking about and that he wasn't completely disgusted with her.

Scott took both of her hands in his. "Can we put all of this behind us?"

Mo nodded.

Scott let out a loud breath. "What a relief!" Then, he pulled Mo into his arms. She fell completely inside of his embrace. "I love you so much," he said. Mo nodded into his chest. She couldn't speak because she was overcome with emotion. Gratitude and relief turned into tears. Scott kissed the top of her head repeatedly. Mo kissed Scott's shoulder repeatedly. Slowly, amid many kisses, their faces found each other. Mo always loved Scott's kisses. But this one was particularly wonderful. It held depth and strength and a great, full love in it. Then, his arms around her back tightened their grip on her mid-kiss, making her know that he was never ever going to let her go again. She embraced him as strongly as she could as well, in order to tell him the same thing.


	23. Chapter 23

Here's a nice long one full of Ray and Stella, to try to make up for how slowly I've been writing this story. I hope you enjoy!

Did anyone else hear about them cancelling making the sequel? That makes me sad!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 23 **

"Where are my black flats? Where are my black flats? WHERE ARE MY BLACK FLATS?" Stella's frantic search landed her in the living room, where the rest of her family was bewildered.

"Honey, why in the world would any of us know the answer to that question?" replied Mrs. Dr. Yamada. The twins shrugged and shook their heads at one another, their usual reply to Stella's rants. Mr. Dr. Yamada said, "Just wear another pair of shoes."

Both Stella and her mother replied silently, but with facial expressions that said, "Really?"

Mrs. Doc knew the best way to calm her daughter. "Let's go back up to your room and see what we can find, ok?"

Stella knew that this was her mother's way of letting her know that it was time to calm down. She turned and went up to her room.

"What is her problem now?" said Timmy, when she was out of earshot.

"You'll understand when you're older," said their mother. Mr. Doc raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh?"

"Sweetheart, she's having dinner with Ray's parents tonight. She's nervous. Don't you remember meeting my parents?"

"Yeah, but we had a legitimate reason to be nervous. Neither of our parents were thrilled about their child dating someone from another race. Ray's parents don't have any objections to Stella…or do they?"

"No, dear, they don't. She must really like this guy!"

"How do you figure?"

"Since when has Stella cared this much about what someone else thought about her?"

"Hmm. Good point…I'm not sure how I feel about that…"

"You feel happy that our wonderful daughter whom we trust has met a young man who, so far, seems to be quite lovely."

"Fathers don't go for 'lovely'."

"He's a good student. He has a future. And he's good to our daughter."

"OK," he relented.

Stella's mother went upstairs to find Stella and try to calm her down. Stella was in her room. "Stella, it looks like a bomb hit here!"

Stella looked around herself briefly. "I can't find those shoes!"

"Honey, you don't usually get this worked up over an outfit. I'm sure they'll love you, because you're a terrific person."

Stella shook her head vigorously. "No, not going to work this time, Mom. You think that about me because you're my mother. And because you got a good first impression of me."

"Naked, messy, and screaming?"

"Ew. Don't repeat that. Ever. Please."

Dr. Yamada sat on the edge of Stella's bed, waiting for her to talk. Stella adored her mother, for many reasons. But the biggest one was her innate ability to know exactly when to push and when to back off. Stella sighed, gave up her shoe search, and sat down at her desk, facing her mom.

"OK, here's the deal. I've already met Ray's parents before."

"So, why are you so worked up this time?"

"I've only met them once, and it wasn't pretty. They didn't exactly see my most charming side." Mrs. Doc said, "Oh?" as if to say, "I didn't raise my daughter to be rude to people she's met."

Stella became defensive. "I wasn't just randomly a jerk! You need to listen to the context."

"Of course," said her mother. "Go on."

"It was in the hospital. Everyone said that Ray's mom was super fragile, and I guess his dad had sent orders that she wasn't allowed to see him until after he did, to assess the situation to see if it was something she could handle."

"Not allowed to see her own son?"

"That's what I thought! See? Well, I confronted Evil Nurse Jo and got her in to see Ray. His mother handled it just fine, Mom. I don't know why all the fuss over her being some kind of porcelain doll or something."

"Well, some people get very worried about any harm coming to people they love very much, especially if they've already endured pain before."

"Yeah," Stella promised Scott and Ray that she wouldn't tell anyone the whole story about Ray's family or his night terrors. So, she simply looked to the ground for a moment, thinking in shame about all the pain Mrs. Beech had endured.

Dr. Yamada knew there was more to the story. But she wasn't going to force it out of her daughter. She said, "That doesn't sound like a bad first impression. I'm sure she likes you a great deal, honey."

"I don't know. Maybe. But I'm not as worried about her as I am about the dad. He's frightening under normal circumstances. And, well, going against his orders wasn't normal circumstances."

"Maybe he doesn't know you did it?"

"Oh, he does. He came in, yelling at everyone in scrubs all around him. So, I lost my temper and let him have it."

"Oh."

"Mom, he was being a bully. And I just can't stand that."

"Yes, honey, bullying is at the very top of your rather long list of things you can't stand."

"Even when you're insulting me, you say something sweet."

"I'm a lucky woman that you see it that way."

"But mom, what am I going to do? He already hates me."

"You'll be fine."

"He's going to be awful."

"You're a guest in his house."

"And now that I'll be in his home, he'll have the advantage."

"Since when are you afraid of anyone, Stella?"

"And then he'll make Ray break up with me." She slumped in her chair.

"A-ha." Finally, they got to the bottom of what was upsetting Stella so much. Mrs. Yamada stood up, walked over to Stella, and pulled her up to her feet. "Come here," and she embraced her daughter.

"Stella, there are many great things about you. You have the strongest moral compass of anyone I know. You are incredibly beautiful. And you always, without fail, stand up for those in need. Clearly, Ray sees all of that. And he is clearly confident enough in his choice of girlfriend to bring you to his parents. He has known his father for a lot longer than you have. Don't you think he knows how his father treats guests? He wouldn't put you in harm's way. It will be fine, trust me."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. Now, let's take a look at that outfit." Stella stood up. She wore a green short-sleeve dress with white eyelet trim. "That dress is beautiful, sweetie!"

Stella looked away, a little embarrassed. "I bought it today." Lemonade Mouth had had a blissfully drama-free day, which made rehearsal much more productive, and she was able to leave with time to get a parent-appropriate outfit.

"But…"

"But what, Mom? It's cut modestly. There aren't any tears or sayings on it. And if I can just find those stupid flats, it'll be totally appropriate."

"Yes, definitely appropriate…but it needs a little more Stella."

Stella looked into her drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors.

"OH no! You are not cutting that beautiful dress," said her mother. "I'm thinking more like an accessory. What about your purple belt?"

Stella smiled. She went to the closet to dig it out. And there were the flats!

Her outfit finalized, Stella and her mother inspected her in the mirror. "There we go," said Dr. Yamada. "And now that you look like you, you'll act like you, and they're going to love you. But be polite!"

"Of course, Mom." Stella gave her mother a hug. Then the doorbell rang. She got a flash of fear. Her mother hugged her again, and said, "You'll be fine!"

And now it was Ray's turn to panic. Stella looked sensational. He never changed after school. He thought that dressing casual would put Stella at her ease. And here he was, at the foot of her stairway, looking at the only girl he knew who could manage to be insanely hot and sublimely beautiful at the same time, in a dress that somehow was modest but suddenly turned up his temperature several degrees. And he was in jeans and a t shirt. She was already a bundle of nerves about all the band drama, in addition to worrying about his parents liking her. Now his casual attire was going to embarrass her. He had to think quick.

"Oh sure, you had time to change! I had to stay late on campus and then do my mother's bidding running errands for her. I've had no time to get home yet. You'll have to endure my parents alone while I clean up when we get there."

Stella smiled, clearly relieved. She bounded down the stairs and said good-bye to her parents. While she was hugging her mom, Dr. Yamada said, "Go get 'em, tiger!" Stella whispered, "Thank-you, Mom!"

While opening her car door, Ray said, "You know, this is a little unfair. I thought you wouldn't pull any more dirty tricks on me."

"What are you talking about?" Stella asked as she got inside the car.

Turning on the ignition, and looking straight ahead (feigning the need to focus on driving), Ray said, "Well, dressed the way you are, I'm not going to be able to keep anything resembling focus or decent conversation. My parents are going to think their son has become an idiot on them."

"OK, you left that one wide open. I can't keep it from leaving my mouth. Here it comes: what do you mean '_has become_ an idiot'? Like that's past tense?"

"You're right. I did leave that open. But you did catch the compliment, right?"

"Yes. Thank-you. But I don't know why. I mean, it's cute and all. But it's not exactly the hoochy-mama thing that you're typically into."

"Well, that's kinda it, though. There's something about it that seems all the hotter because it covers you but just exactly comes in just close enough in all the right places…"

"Oh." Stella blushed. She was both embarrassed and pleased that he liked the look of her body. She wasn't quite ready for this. But all the same, it did sound kinda cool.

All too soon, they got to Ray's house. Stella let out a groan before she could stop it.

"You'll be fine," said Ray. He took her hand and kissed each knuckle of each finger several times.

As they walked up to the door, Stella's heart raced and then chose to switch places with her stomach, then back again, then switch again, then back again. Ray squeezed her hand. And then they entered his house.

"Hi! I'm home!" he called.

Ray's mother rounded the corner from what Stella assumed was the kitchen. "Hi, sweetie!" To Stella, she said, "I'm so glad you're here!" And she gave Stella a _hug_. Furthermore, it was a death-grip hug, as if Mrs. Beech's life depended upon embracing Stella. Then, as if an invisible hand pulled her, Mrs. Beech quickly stood back and regained her composure. She looked at Ray and said, "Oh, son, you didn't dress for dinner?" Instinctively, Ray looked down at his shirt, even though he was perfectly aware of what he was wearing. "Nah, Mom, I just didn't have the time to change. Give me a minute." To Stella, he said, "I'll be right back." With that, he bounded up the stairs.

Stella stood there, alone, not completely sure as to what she should do. "So…" she said.

Mrs. Beech looked in the direction of her disappeared son and shook her head. "You look lovely, Stella. That is a great color on you. Perhaps my son can remember his upbringing and dress properly." Stella wasn't sure how to take this. If she agreed, she'd be insulting the woman's son, if she disagreed, she'd be insulting Mrs. Beech. Thankfully, Mrs. Beech smiled and said, "Come with me. I'll show you the living room. Can I get you something to drink? Iced tea?"

"No th-, uh, I mean, yes please." She was a mess. Accept? Don't accept? Was the whole meal going to be like this, second-guessing everything she said?

What Stella did not take into account was the fact that Mrs. Beech was an incredibly refined woman and an excellent hostess. One of her greatest skills was putting people at their ease. She said, "I'll go get it. But first, before the boys join us, there's something I'd like to say to you."

_Oh no. I'm dead. _Stella had no idea what Mrs. Beech wanted to say to her , but whenever an adult wanted a private word with her, it was _never_ good news. "Yes?" said Stella, trying with every effort to not make her voice shake.

Mrs. Beech came closer to Stella, all the while looking at the entrance to the living room, to make sure the "boys" weren't approaching. "I want to tell you that I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for my Raymond."

"Oh. He needed…" Mrs. Beech cut her off. She said, "I'm not just talking about the hospital, although everything you did there was just amazing. You looked after him, and you found us. And, you got me past that dreadful woman so that I could see my baby. That is something that few people do for their best friends, let alone someone who, well, wasn't…"

"How did you know about that?"

"I have my ways…along with an honorary son in Scotty Pickett." She went on, "But really, dear, what I'm most grateful for is the effect you have had on him since then. That boy and his sister are my sun and moon and stars. And it pains me to admit this, but…before you, to people outside of the family, he was sullen and arrogant and unkind. Now, he is becoming exactly the man that I always thought and hoped he would become. Mind you, you didn't change him. That side of him was always there. But you unlocked it. Thank-you for that."

"Thank-you for what?" asked Ray as he entered the room.

Mrs. Beech hid the startle jump by quickly turning and walking toward him. "…for making my boy a better dresser, of course!" she said as she adjusted his collar.

Ray rolled his eyes and said, "Harldly. So, where's Dad?" This killed Stella's momentary reprieve from nervousness. Mrs. Beech's words had warmed her heart, and she almost got to feeling calm. But then the mention of Mr. Beech sent her into terror mode again.

As if on cue, the man himself entered the room. "I just had to wrap up a meeting." Stella looked around to see if anyone else was there. Ray leaned toward her and said, "on Skype." "Oh," she said, feeling foolish.

If Mr. Beech saw that, he made no mention of it. He walked across the room toward Stella, hand extended. "Hello, Stella. It's nice to…see you again…under better circumstances."

Stella couldn't take being a bundle of nerves anymore. Whenever she felt pent up, she had the habit of speaking her mind, which nearly always got her into trouble. As she took Mr. Beech's hand and shook it, she made eye contact. She had meant to say something like, "yes, it is" (_what? It's nice to see me? That's not at all arrogant.)_ or "me, too" (_but that didn't quite fit what he had said_), or simply "hello". But the eye contact, with a pair of icy blue eyes (not unlike Ray's, but Ray's had some of his mother's warmth and depth to them), Stella's brain stopped and her mouth started. She said, in a rush and unbidden, "I'm sorry I was so rude to you in the hospital and I'm sorry I overstepped my boundaries but it's just that your wife was so worried and wanted to see Ray and I'm really close to my mom and I know that she would lose her mind if I were in the hospital and she couldn't see me and so all I could think about was her and so I felt like I had to help Ray's mom to see him." She took a breath. Everyone was staring at her. She said, "So…um…I'm really sorry…sir."

Mr. Beech looked at this frightened young lady, really, little more than a child. He had been shaken to the core to learn that both of his children had been hospitalized after a car accident. This girl's impertinence was only a vague memory in the whole ordeal of terror over possibly losing his children followed by immense relief that they were all right. This – child – had no understanding of a how parents worry about their children, even a distant-acting parent such as himself. This experience was his wake-up call that he had to be a better father to his children, more present and part of their lives. This included taking an interest in their friends and – though he hardly thought it possible already, as a parent mentally keeps his children perpetually as young as possible – romantic interests. It so happened that Ray's romantic interest was a girl who had inserted herself in private family issues, overstepped his authority, and then had the audacity to _scold _him for it. However, she had done it for love, in thinking of her own mother and recognizing another mother's need to see her child. And, he suspected, she did it for the love of his son. This girl was not a problem, not in the least. Perhaps she could stand a lesson or two in manners. But she was courageous and compassionate, two traits that Mr. Beech was quickly learning were more important than he had ever realized before.

"Dad?" said Ray. He was confused at his father allowing the pregnant pause. However, there was another edge to Ray's tone. It was warning, connected to the other night's conversation. Ray had said something to the effect of, "Be _nice_ to her. Or maybe I don't need to be bringing you into my private life." Normally, this tone was unacceptable in the Beech household. But because it was concerning a girl, and Ray's desire to protect her from harm or embarrassment, Mr. and Mrs. Beech were taken aback. Ray had never spoken like this about anyone in his life, let alone a girl. And they were not going to discourage this new trend of compassion for others.

Mr. Beech shook his head, to bring himself back to focus on the present, which included a terrified girl standing in front of him, her empty hand still partially extended from their hand shake. He said, "First of all, young lady, you are completely forgiven. Second of all, you have nothing to apologize for. You were helping my son and my wife. Why would I be angry about that? I'm the one who should apologize. I behaved abominably to you that day. Please forgive the behavior of a worried father and husband."

Stella cocked her head in confusion. She had no idea what to say. First of all, there was Ray's mother thanking her for making Ray a nice person. And then there was Ray's father asking _her_ to forgive _him_. This evening was going in a completely unexpected direction. She said, "Of course." Mr. Beech smiled. He actually _smiled_. Then, he said, "The world needs more people with your courage of conviction, young lady."

"I don't know about that," said Stella. "I have a bad habit of speaking before thinking."

"So, your vocal cords are braver than your brain?" he asked.

"I suppose so," she replied.

"Well, when you get those two in sync, you will be a force to be reckoned with. Have you ever thought about starting your own business? You have the mental skill set for it!"

"That's a big compliment from the Great Founder of Turbo Blast."

He smiled again. Wild!

The rest of dinner went very well. The meal was delicious. Apparently, Ray's mother had taken several gourmet cooking courses over the years, one of which was entirely devoted to vegetarian cooking.

And the conversation was surprising for Stella.

"Stella, tell me about your family," said Mr. Beech.

"Well," began Stella. She was used to this speech. She usually went on a mental holiday while reciting it. It's not that she wasn't proud of her family. She was very proud of them, so much so, in fact, that she was ashamed of her inability to match up to them. She continued, "As you know, my dad is a medical doctor. He is involved in cancer research. My mother is an environmental scientist. Her PhD's are in…"

Mrs. Beech interrupted, "PhD's? Plural?"

Stella continued, "Yeah. They're in environmental science and chemistry. She is involved in a research project that is looking for a more viable biodegradable plastic. Oh, and Mr. Beech?"

"Yes?" he replied.

"She fully approves of your company's environmental responsibility."

"That is good to know." He was not sarcastic when he said this. He then asked, "Do you have siblings?"

"Yes. I have 11-year-old twin brothers. They are inventors. They will attend Mesa High next year. They have recently developed a quiet-but-powerful motor for go-carts that will probably get a patent. Their third."

Ray asked, "Go-cart?"

Stella replied, "Patent."

"Wow," said Mr. Beech. "What a remarkable family."

"Yeah," said Stella, trying not to sound dejected. She also worked at not slouching. But in her head, she was. "They're geniuses."

"That's certainly interesting," said Mr. Beech. "But that's not the most interesting thing about your family."

"Oh?" said Stella.

"What's fascinating about your family," said Mr. Beech, "is that every single one of you is incredibly innovative, and every one of you is successful at it."

Stella was physically moved by that comment. As she let her back slam on the back of her chair, she said, "Hm! I never thought of it like that."

Ray leaned over and said quietly, "I told you so."

Then, Mr. Beech asked the two of them many questions about the business aspect of Lemonade Mouth, and how Ray was going to fit into all of that. Stella answered as much as she could, and thankfully, Ray had been involved long enough by now to be able to answer whatever Stella couldn't. Mr. Beech seemed pleased with the information.

He said, after the whole conversation, "Well, I am sorry to see your Mudslide Crush dissolve, Raymond. It was a good band, and you did a terrific job in putting it together."

"Thanks, Dad!" Ray was clearly surprised to hear such an overt compliment from his father. Frankly, Ray didn't know that he father even knew that he was in a band, let alone the name or current state of it. But dissolved? "But I don't know if we're totally dissolved yet…"

"Whatever happens, I'm glad to know you'll do well. I like the experience you will get in managing Lemonade Mouth. But will this be a problem for the two of you?"

Ray was about to emphatically deny it, but Stella intervened. "So far, so good, sir. He has a great head for business and is completely fearless at talking to club owners and merch buyers. He's also a great song writer. I'm a good musician. My band mates are incredibly talented, and we are a close-knit group of friends who all love each other very much. We work extra hard at making sure that the music is unharmed by our personal ups and downs." She did not let on how terrified she had been just the day before about Scott and Mo's momentary break-up.

Under the table, Ray squeezed Stella's hand. Out loud, he said to his father, "What she said." Mr. and Mrs. Beech both laughed.

"And speaking of Lemonade Mouth," said Ray, "we've got an interview to get to."

Mrs. Beech said, "Tell me again? You're not being interviewed, but you're helping the boy who is?"

"Yeah, that about sums it up," said Stella. "It's a live stream, so he's worried about the whole 'thinking on his feet' skill."

Mrs. Beech shook her head and said, "amazing…"

"Quite a leap from your birth-of-computer science days, right?" said Mr. Beech. To Stella's questioning look, he pointed to his wife and said, "This one was in the first class to graduate computer science as a major at ASU."

"Yes, but we were still using DOS and dot-matrix printers." She said. "Quite a leap…" she repeated her husband's sentiment.

"All right Mom and Dad. Gotta go!" said Ray. He gave his mother a kiss and his father a sort of half-hug back pat. Stella said, "Thank-you for dinner. It was delicious!" She went to shake Mrs. Beech's hand, but was caught in a hug instead. She turned to Ray's father, hand extended. Mr. Beech said, "Put that away!" and he also hugged her, albeit quite a bit more briefly than Mrs. Beech had.

Once outside, as Ray and Stella walked to his car, he gave an exaggerated exhale and said, "Whew! Now you can breathe again!" Stella rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she couldn't keep a smile from escaping.

They pulled out of his driveway and drove down the road a bit, when Stella said, "Could you please pull over?"

"Why?" But he did.

"Because I don't want you to crash again."

"Why would I cr-" he was interrupted by her tackle. Stella managed to leap from her seat to his and smother his face with kisses before he could say another word.

Once he (quickly) got over the initial shock of the attack, Ray gave as good as he got. What was left of her lipgloss was gone, and her neatly assembled hairstyle was a mess. His perfectly placed slightly sloppy hairstyle was now simply sloppy, Stella's hands successfully removing most of his hair way-too-much-for-a-straight-guy hair product. His hands, once they were done messing up her hair, dropped to her waist. That was where she sat up.

"OK," she said, giggling and trying to catch her breath. "We have to get to Charlie's house."

"Huh? Who's house?"

As she returned to her seat and put on her seatbelt, Stella said, "You know, that guy who hits things with sticks behind the band?"

"Oh, right, him." He ran his fingers through his hair in an effort to re-gain composure. As he began to drive, looking straight ahead (because he would have definitely lost control of himself if he looked at her at that moment), Ray asked, "Now, if you would have just attacked like that from the onset, you and I would have never been enemies…"

"If you had been human from the onset, I might have…"

Ray let out a "humph." He really did meet his match in this girl. He then asked, "Not that I don't like being attacked and all, but what was the occasion?"

"Relief."

"Relief? Not my charm or good looks or great personality? You weren't spending the whole dinner holding back until you couldn't take it anymore?"

"No comment."

"So…relief. What, that my father didn't yell at you?"

"Sort of."

"What are you not telling me, Stella?"

"Well," Stella started to nervously twirl her hair in her fingers. She was a little embarrassed by this, especially now. "I was worried that, if your dad didn't like me, then he'd make you break up with me."

"What?" They pulled up to a red light. Ray turned to face Stella. He said, "Hey, listen. No one tells me who I can or cannot be involved with."

"But he's your dad," she said, her voice becoming small.

"A dad who only recently took notice in my life as something greater than a list of achievements." He then said something else that startled Stella. "Also, what makes you think I would ever put you in a position of you being treated poorly? I would _never_ do that do you. I hope you can someday truly believe that. But I have patience. I'll stick around to prove it, until you do." He took her hand. The light turned green. He spent the rest of the drive repeatedly kissing Stella's hand. She _loved _it. It seemed like such a small thing to do, but each kiss felt like little sparks that ignited and melted bits of her, at the same time. This guy's words and actions continuously surprised her.

By the time they got to Charlie's house, Stella said, "OK, any more of that, and you'll have a repeat attack."

"And that's bad because….?"

"Charlie needs us, and we need to focus."

"Right. Charlie. Help da po wittle dwummow who can't handle throngs of adoring fans."

"Any more of that sarcasm, Mr. Beech, and there will be no repeat attacks."

"Like you can restrain yourself. You know I'm just way too much man for you to be able to hold yourself back." He got out of the car opened her door for her.

"Humph," she replied. She stepped out of the car and strode on ahead to Charlie's door. Ray was forced to run a little bit to catch up with her. She was smiling as he reached her side. "But seriously, we don't have to stay here all that late, right?" Stella shrugged and smiled. She stood up on her toes to reach him, kissed his ear, and said quietly, "We'll see." Ray hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her in for a proper kiss. They were interrupted by the sound of Charlie's door opening.


	24. Chapter 24

And here's the interview, the first scene I thought of when I first thought of this story loooong ago. I hope you enjoy!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 24**

Charlie didn't feel terribly bad about interrupting Stella and Ray making out, or about to make out. He was a little more used to it than before, but still… It was strange to see his best friend and their formal mortal enemy so attached. He imagined that it would eventually stop being so weird.

"Hey, thanks for coming," he said. "Everyone else is already here. Olivia is setting everything up."

They greeted Charlie's parents on the way to his room. In his room, everyone else in the band was already there. On one side of the desk, Olivia was setting up Charlie's laptop to connect to Stacy's live feed. On the other side of the desk, Wen was setting up his laptop. "Hey, Liv, what's the login for the fake profile?" he asked.

"Username is MrsDelgado253."

"There are 252 other Mrs. Delgados?" asked Stella.

"Charlie, you dog!" said Scott, taking a momentary pause from kissing Mo. They had been making up non-stop ever since, well, they made up. Even when they went home the night before, and were supposed to be asleep, they had spent the entire night texting love messages to each other.

Charlie managed a half smile in reply. But mostly, he looked nauseous.

"And what's the password?" asked Wen. At this, Olivia blushed. She darted over to his side of the desk, saying, "I'll put it in."

"Gee, that's not mysterious!" said Stella. Wen looked over Olivia's shoulder, trying to watch her key strokes. Olivia batted him away with one hand, while attempting to type with the other.

"Login fail," read Wen from the screen. "Yeah, because you won't me type, Nosy-Pants," retorted Olivia. Wen replied, "C'mon, sweetie, what is it? We don't have much time here."

Charlie said, "Olivia, I need your help with the webcam. I don't know how to connect it."

Olivia sighed in defeat, and whispered the password into Wen's ear. At this, Wen blushed. Mo and Stella laughed outright. Scott shook his head, and Ray rolled his eyes. As Wen typed the password, Olivia helped Charlie with the webcam.

"Liv, it says 'Login fail' again," said Wen.

Olivia said, as quietly as possible, "Capital M, capital G, the rest is lowercase, no period, and 1 is a numeral, not a word." Mo and Stella figured out the password and suppressed giggles. The guys were kind enough to feign ignorance, for Wen's sake.

It was ten minutes before the interview was to start. Stella took charge. "OK, everyone who isn't Charlie needs to stay on this side of the desk." Everyone complied. Ray was all too happy to back as far away as possible from this ridiculous scene.

Stella continued. "Olivia, make sure the mic is off on Charlie's computer." Olivia replied, "Got it."

And finally, Stella turned to Charlie. "Charlie, do your best to keep a cheerful face."

He nodded, but as Charlie sat down, he started to look pale and frightened. Everyone did their best to get him pumped.

"You'll be great, Charlie!" said Olivia.

"Just think of it as a performance. You're amazing on stage," said Stella.

Ray leaned over to Scott, and said quietly, "I still don't get what his problem is. Why is he freaked out about chicks liking him? Why would _any _guy have a problem with that, unless he's…?"

Scott said, "No. I dunno what his deal is. Maybe still kinda young? I don't think he's ever had a girlfriend or anything."

"Anything?" asked Ray.

Scott shook his head.

"Unbelievable!" said Ray, shaking his head in disbelief. "The boy they call 'America's heart-throb' has never ever even kissed a girl?!"

Scott shrugged. "Wow," said Ray. "Just, wow." Mo was with the others, but she overheard that last part. She said, "What?" They both immediately said, "Nothing."

Charlie had been trying to avoid Mo most of the past two days, in order for both of them to get over the previous day's awkward encounter. But he was so used to taking advice from her about girl fans, he couldn't help but look to her now. Mo realized that she was the only one who could help him right now. She locked eye contact with him. And she said, "Charlie, you're going to be great. You always have been great with your fans. It's why so many of them love you so much. You can do this."

Charlie nodded and said, "OK, thanks, Mo." Mo smiled and nodded in reply.

Just then, Charlie got an I.M. from Stacy. "Ready to go, Charlie?"

Charlie typed the message that Stella had already given him to say. "Yep! But I have one little glitch here. My mic is broken, so I'll have to type my replies to the questions."

There was a pause.

On the other side of town, in Stacy's house, Stacy started to freak out. "That's the whole _point_ of a live feed, to hear his voice!"

"No," corrected Veronica. "The point is to be live. It's more important that they can feel like they're conversing with him _right now_. And they can still see his face, right?"

"OK, ok, ok, ok, all right." Stacy settled down.

"I have an idea," said Veronica. "Close out your window and enlarge his. No one needs to see you, and if Charlie's much bigger on their screen, that'll make up for missing his voice. Also, cut out your mic as well, to make it look like this was your plan all along."

"You're a doll!" said Stacy. She typed her reply to Charlie, "No problem!"

At first, the interview went smoothly. Veronica helped Stacy screen the questions, letting in the more interesting ones for Stacy's sake, and for Charlie's sake, keeping out any embarrassing ones. On Charlie's end, he was mostly able to handle the answers himself. But that didn't keep the rest of the band from hollering ideas at him.

Then, a little past halfway done, just when Charlie was feeling relaxed and happy about the whole thing, Veronica accidentally knocked over her glass of water. "Crap! I'm so sorry, Stacy!" Stacy lifted her computer onto her lap while Veronica cleaned up the mess. With Veronica gone looking for a towel, Stacy was on her own with the question-screening. She went rogue, and decided to accept the one question that had been asked several dozen times already (there was a whole bulletin board on Stacy's site dedicated to this particular topic).

Stacy typed, "And here's a question from iHeartCD: 'What's up with you and Mohini?'"

Charlie's face went completely ashen. The girls sprang into action. "CRAP!" said Stella. "They were going through the whole night without that."

"Why do they say Mo in particular?" asked Olivia. Wen muttered, "Moxie's show." Everyone looked at him. "My little sister has a friend who won't stop pestering me about it," he said. They kept looking at him. "I don't say anything! I give her the standard reply."

"Which is…?" asked Stella.

"I say, 'What are you talking about? Mo's with Scott.'"

"OK, say that," Stella said to Charlie.

He typed it. But Stacy wouldn't relent. She typed, "iHeartCD's reply to your answer is, 'But what about what you did on Moxie's show, with the look you gave her and the "not yet…" reply to Moxie's love life question?'"

Charlie sat stone-still and stared at the computer. Wen said to Olivia, "Quick, get a question in!"

"I did, but there's a line of about 50 people in front of me," said Olivia frantically.

Charlie said quietly, "She said she'd keep Stacy from doing this."

At this point, Veronica returned to Stacy's room. She quickly cleaned the mess and said, "Stacy, you didn't!"

Stacy feigned innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Veronica held up her phone. Stacy slumped in her chair and muttered, "Stupid smart phones."

Best friend or not, Veronica was _furious_ that Stacy would be so heartless to Charlie. "I can't believe you'd do this to him, Stace!"

"Look, it's what everyone wants to know. I'd be totally irresponsible if I didn't ask it."

"Give me your computer and get out of the way. I'm going to save him from humiliation."

"But…"

"MOVE!" Veronica bellowed, in a completely uncharacteristic commanding tone.

Stacy, knowing she had done something wrong, let her conscience be her guide. She handed her laptop over to Veronica.

Veronica quickly got to work.

Charlie saw the following on his screen: "New question. Puente or Krupa?"

"Huh?" Charlie said, though he typed nothing. Then, his I.M. window chimed. Though from Stacy's username, the message read, "Hi Charlie, it's Veronica. I'm sorry about not catching that other question quickly enough. I've put Stacy on a time out."

Charlie smiled. Rather, Charlie beamed. "What is it?" asked Olivia.

"Veronica took over."

"The coffee house chick?" asked Wen.

"And music genius?" said Stella.

"Yes," said Charlie.

"Ah, how kind of her!" said Olivia.

On screen, the question repeated, "So, in a cage match to the death, Puente or Krupa?"

Out loud, at the same time, Charlie said "Puente," and from the back of the room, Ray said, "Krupa".

Everyone looked back and forth between the two former enemies. Stella finally said, "Um, English please?"

Before Charlie could start, Ray said, "Arguably, the two greatest drummers of the 20th century, Gene Krupa and Tito Puente." To Charlie, he continued, "And Krupa would mop the floor with Puente, with the 'Sing Sing Sing' solo alone!"

Charlie replied, "But Puente has all those awesome Latin percussion toys. Those could totally be turned into weapons!" And he typed that.

On her end, Veronica laughed. On their end, Ray said to Charlie, "Good point. But Krupa was still a drumming god, and an inspiration for Jewish performers, especially with the onset of World War II."

Everyone but Charlie stared at Ray. "Don't look at me like I'm a nerd. I'm a musician, and I'm in A.P. U.S. history. You are the ones who are sorely lacking in your music history knowledge, especially since you're supposed to be musicians."

Charlie continued his defense of Tito Puente. "Puente was one of the first widely accepted Latino musicians. He's an inspiration for all Latinos."

"But you know who his inspiration was?" replied Ray, "Gene freakin' Krupa! You can Wikipedia that one."

Charlie smiled and shook his head. "All right. But the age difference plus his toys would still give him the advantage in a cage match. Claves plus a little string equals nun chucks." Ray smiled and nodded.

Stella said quietly to Mo, "Don't look now, but I think a hatchet has just been buried."

"Thank goodness!" said Mo.

Veronica continued to ask Charlie music-related questions. Charlie handled all of them well, of course. He even managed to put in a plug for Minnie 'N Joe, calling them his first great love in music. This deeply touched Veronica, that Charlie would be so kind to her parents.

Veronica allowed Stacy back on at the very end of the webcast, giving her only enough time to close up the show. But before she did so, she replied to Charlie's I.M., setting up a time later that evening to talk some more, in private. Then, she erased their chat history and signed out of Stacy's I.M. account. After Stacy's stunt this evening, Veronica didn't think she could trust her with any knowledge of Veronica's friendship with Charlie.

Charlie said his good-byes to his fans online, and he signed out. "Finally over!" he said, slamming his laptop shut. "Thank-you, everyone!" he said. "I couldn't have done this without you."

"True," said Wen.

"Not at all," said Mo. "You would have been totally fine without us. It sounds like Veronica's the real saving grace in all of this."

Charlie cocked his head to the side in surprise at hearing Mo say this. He didn't want to discuss it further, so he simply said, "Yeah."

"Anyone hungry?" said Wen. "Dante's?"

"Sure," said Mo.

"Uh," said Ray, looking at Stella in a question. Stella said, "Pass. I already ate." Ray had difficulty suppressing his smile. He said, "…and that A.P. class is killing me. I'm way behind. Gotta go!" he steered Stella out of Charlie's room and home. As he let Stella into his car, she said, "Do you have a test tomorrow?"

"Nope," he said, "But I do need some help studying."

She replied, "Uh, hello, I'm a freshman, and I'm dumb as a bucket of hair. I know nothing about A.P. U.S. history."

Getting in on his side of the car, Ray said, "This is more of a lab assignment."

"History has labs? What lab is this?"

"Battlefield strategies. More specifically, attack strategies."

Stella laughed outright and said, "I think that I could perhaps tutor you in that…"


	25. Chapter 25

Charlie and Ronnie get on track!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 25**

"Stacy, really, how could you?" Veronica was livid. The interview was over, but she was still angry at her friend's betrayal. "You're a better person than this." Stacy wouldn't make eye contact. She was intently working on signing out of her webcast and her I.M. window. She couldn't bring herself to face her vastly morally superior friend. But also, she couldn't bear Veronica being angry with her. Contrite, she finally looked up. "You're right," she mumbled.

"Charlie is a great guy, and you totally betrayed his trust."

"I know."

"And for what? A bunch of people you don't even know?"

"I know."

"It's just that, Stacy, you're a really good person. And you're just not showing that when you give in to gossip like this."

"I know."

"Well, I can't keep being mad when you just sit there and agree with me." Veronica loved Stacy with all her heart. And even though Stacy was totally in the wrong here, Veronica couldn't bear to see her best friend feeling so low.

"Mac, I'm really sorry. I let the growing popularity of my site and all the subscribers get in the way of my ethics. I think I'm not cut out to be a hard-hitting journalist."

"Actually, Stacy, your ethics are exactly what can make you a great journalist. Maybe you can pioneer a totally new era of celebrity journalism: creating deep-probing questions about their actual art, to remind the public of why they are beloved in the first place."

Stacy smiled. "You are so amazing, Mac. You are totally relentless in making the world a sunnier place. I'm so lucky you're my friend."

At that comment, Veronica felt a twinge of guilt over with-holding her friendship with Charlie from Stacy. But she reasoned that the friendship probably wouldn't last much longer, anyway. So, why bother bringing in the extra drama, right? Thankfully, they were interrupted by Stacy's mom knocking and then coming in.

"Ronnie, you ready?"

"Yeah. Bye, Stace." She gave her friend a hug and went home.

Back in Charlie's house, Olivia and Wen finished packing up Wen's computer and equipment. Olivia said, "Charlie? You coming to Dante's with us?"

"No thanks," said Charlie. "I'm still trying to catch up on English homework."

"I'm sorry, was that Charlie talking? You're turning down pizza in favor of homework?" said Wen.

"Don't discourage this!" said Mo. Olivia smiled at Charlie and said, "Good luck."

Charlie bade his friends good-bye. Once he was alone, he opened his I.M. window and sent a message to Veronica. He then opened his English assignment, and attempted to concentrate. He was rescued by the I.M. alert chime of her response.

Her message read, "I can't tell you how sorry I am for letting that question in."

He replied, "What are you saying? You totally saved the day. I can't thank you enough."

"But I left you in the lurch there."

"I was panicked for a few seconds. And your save was amazing! But honestly, I need to start learning how to handle these kinds of questions on my own."

"Perhaps, but I gave you my word that I wouldn't let that happen. My word is important to me. Mostly, we have my chronic clumsiness to blame." She explained about the water spilling and about Stacy seizing the opportunity. She concluded with, "but don't be too hard on her. I have already read her the riot act. And she did say that it's the number one topic that almost all of her subscribers keep pestering her about. But she feels _really _sorry about embarrassing you."

"I hope this isn't going to harm your friendship."

"Never! The only slight problem is that I haven't been completely forthcoming with her about you and I being friends. But once I tell her, she'll understand. We've been friends all of our lives, and we always will be."

"Well, thank-you again."

"Of course!"

"How's the green hair coming along?"

"Hahaha! So far, so good. I think I'm getting the hang of Stacy's fashion advice, but I want to make it my own."

"Pardon?"

"Well, right now, I kinda look like a Stacy style prototype. I want to make what I wear look stylish but look like me. I guess I'm still trying to figure out what my 'signature' is. Silly?"

"No. We went through that when we were getting more famous. There were stores and designers that wanted us to wear their stuff on stage and in magazines."

"Did you?"

"Yes. It's a funny thing. You need the funding to keep going as a musician, but you have to keep being you. That's a strange line to walk."

"All for money? Don't you make enough from music sales?"

"Not entirely. But it's not just money issues. It's also making connections and not being elitist."

"Wearing your own clothes makes you elitist?"

"Strange, right? But it's actually pretty cool. We've gotten access to some pretty sweet threads."

"I can only imagine! So, you have access to all these clothes, which opens your wardrobe choices to pieces that you didn't know about before. How do you make it yours?"

"That's a trick at first. But then, you get the hang of it. I just pick out stuff that I like. I put the outfit together, and then I run the gauntlet of the rest of the band."

"A la 80's montage scene?"

"No. OK, well kinda. But only for performances."

"hahaha!"

Charlie decided to get brave. "So, um, did the guy like your new look?"

"The guy?" Veronica hit send before she remembered that, in a moment of weakness, she had told Charlie about the whole pathetic Jordan situation.

"The dope who asked you for Stacy's number. Did you turn his head away from her?"

Veronica felt a little giddy inside telling Charlie about this. She tried not to second-guess why he was asking her about this. _He's just making conversation. He's just making conversation. He has millions of girls to choose from, and he's hung up on spectacularly gorgeous Mohini…_ She replied, "Actually, I did."

"Well…?" Charlie was not surprised to find that all-too-familiar lump in his stomach return. All that time of pining for Mo had made it a permanent fixture. It had started to lift the other night when he was I. Veronica, and it completely left him the morning before, after the strange kissing incident (well, almost-kissing incident).

"I turned him down." She smiled at the memory, and at the fantasy that maybe Charlie would like to know that she was no longer interested in Jordon.

Charlie smiled. Actually, the beam from earlier in the evening, the one when he found out that Veronica had taken over the interview, returned. He decided to press his luck. "But why? I thought you were nuts about this guy. And now he's finally come to his senses."

"I told him I'm not interested in being second choice."

"Nice!"

"I've been single all my life so far. And so I can be single a bit longer. I'd rather be alone than be with a guy because he can't be with the girl he really wants."

"No less than you deserve."

Veronica smiled, but she knew he said it out of politeness. It's what you say in response to the kind of statement Veronica made. She wanted to ask him about Mohini, but it seemed inappropriate, considering the events of the interview. Charlie trusted her, and she didn't want to do anything to harm that trust.

However, in the time she was taking to think of what to say next, Charlie wrote again. He said, "Actually, I had an interesting development on that front recently, too."

Before she could stop herself and write something more tactful, Veronica wrote, "Did Mohini finally come to her senses?"

"Sort of." he replied. He told her about Mo trying to kiss him to see if she had feelings for him.

"And? Did she?" Veronica had her own stomach lump growing. She muttered curses to herself for being stupid enough to think Charlie might be interested in her.

"I guess not. She's back with Scott now."

"Ouch! So, not to be graphic, but I'm not getting a clear picture of this. She kissed you, decided she felt nothing, and then went trotting off back to Scott? I'm sorry. I know she's your friend and all, but that all sounds pretty harsh."

Charlie smacked his head. He had left out the most important part. Stomach-lump gone again, Charlie smiled as he typed, "NO! That's not how it happened. She tried to kiss me, and I stopped her."

"Why? It's what you've wanted. Isn't it?" Veronica was a mess of pins, needles, squishy-happy, and stomach lump, all at once.

"Used to want," he replied. "Not anymore. I'm not interested in her anymore."

"Really? Congratulations! It must feel like a huge load off your shoulders."

"It does. Yeah, you'd know, huh?"

"A bit."

Veronica didn't know what else to say. She thought a change of topic was in order. "Did Stella get the posters to you?"

"She did. But you didn't need to do that. I'd have been happy to come get them."

"I know you're super busy. And I didn't want you to go out of your way."

"But it wouldn't have been." _And I could see you in person again._

Then, Charlie got bold. "We have some news with the band, but you can't tell anyone yet."

"You can trust me."

"I know I can. This is so exciting. We're going on tour this summer!"

"Wow! Where?"

"I'm not sure. But so far, I've heard all the major cities in the US mentioned."

"How exciting!"

"Well, apparently, this kind of thing is pretty expensive. So, Mel's wants to throw a promotional party, where we play, and they try to court investors and other sponsors. It's supposed to be pretty fancy."

"It sounds interesting and unusual at the same time."

"Unusual how?"

"Well, your audience will be adults. But your fans are teenagers."

"Good point! I guess we'll have to hope that the ones with all the $$$ are parents of teenagers?"

"I imagine so…"

"So, I was wondering."

"Wondering what?"

_Now or never, Charlie. You can do this._ He was still gun-shy about being totally rejected by Mo the last time he did this. But he knew that there was really only ever one way to find out if a girl was interested. He took a breath, and then he dove in. "I wondered if you would like to go, as my guest?"

_Did he just ask me out? No. Impossible. He's just showing gratitude for me helping him._ "Wow, thanks! I'd love to."

_Wait, does she know I just asked her out?_ Charlie wasn't sure if he had been clear. He decided to take his bravery one step further and make sure. "I mean, as my date." He stared it for a few moments. He still wasn't sure if he should send it. But, then again, he also knew that he was at the end of his patience with having oh so many friend-girls. If Veronica wasn't interested, it was best to just find out and be done with it. He hit send.

Veronica stared at her screen. She felt giddy all over. _Did that really just happen? He really wants to go on a date with me?_ This was so exciting! She couldn't believe it. And she was so happy about it. But she didn't know how to reply. Up until yesterday, she hadn't been asked out by anyone before, let alone a national heart-throb superstar. But he was no longer any of that to her. He was just Charlie, wonderful, sweet, funny, fellow-music-nerd, so easy to talk to, and yes, pretty darned cute, Charlie. Now, finally, and without holding herself back, she allowed herself to fully realize what she felt about him. She liked Charlie. And apparently, he liked her, too.

Unfortunately, she waited a little too long in her basking. Charlie sent another message, "You there? Did you get my last message?" Oh no! She needed to reply. She didn't know how exactly to say it, and so even though it looked super cheesy, she decided to be as completely clear as possible. She replied, "Yes! I'm here. I'd love to be your date, Charlie."

Charlie was relieved. She replied. Then what her actual reply was finally sank in. _Wait. Did she say yes? _She did! A girl he liked actually liked him back. This was not a cutie from a throng. This was a real person. And she was such a great "real" person: kind, thoughtful, funny, incredibly smart, music-loving, warm, and super cute. In spite of what his band mates had said about her, Charlie thought she was pretty. He liked her warm eyes with their deep expression. He only saw her in person a couple of times, but those eyes were unforgettable.

They spent the better part of the rest of the night writing to each other. Neither could say how long they stayed up, or even what they really talked about. They only knew how giddy-happy they felt in knowing how they felt about each other.


	26. Chapter 26

Nothin' but fluffy goodness for Wen/Olivia and Stella/Ray. However, I have a REALLY hard time writing kissing scenes. I can't quite get them realistic and romantic but not romance-novel cheesy. So, forgive my clumsiness!

Just about maybe 2 chapters more, and the story will _finally _be done! Many many thanks for all of your support and kind reviews!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 26**

Elsewhere in town, Wen and Olivia took their leave of Mo and Scott outside of Dante's.

"You sure you don't want a ride?" asked Scott.

"We're good," said Wen. "I'll walk Olivia home, and my bike is there. It's a nice night. See ya!"

"Good night!" said Mo, taking Scott's hand and walking toward his car.

Wen took Olivia's hand, and they walked toward her house. Once they were away from Mo and Scott, Wen stopped. "Liv, we have to talk."

"What about?" That tone sounded a little scary.

"Your password…"

"Oh, Wen, it was a joke! Just like the username."

"Mrs. Gifford 1?"

"Ugh, don't remind me! I'm so embarrassed that everyone found it out, but especially that you did."

"Look, it's just that, young marriage was _really bad_ for my family. The whole reason my mom left my dad was because she said she missed out on her 'young years.' As much as I love you, I would hate for you to ever resent me for that."

"You're reading _way_ too much into this, Wen. I'm not expecting you to marry me any time soon, or even at all. I'm nowhere even near thinking about marriage. Remember, getting married and becoming parents too young completely destroyed my family. You certainly don't have to tell me about the perils of young marriage. But for the record, it doesn't happen for everyone. My Gram got married on her 18th birthday, and she had 60 incredibly happy years of marriage. But again, I was _just joking_. Just let it go. Please."

Wen was surprised to find himself disappointed at her reaction. He was so certain that he would have to talk her out of the idea of marriage, that it hadn't crossed his mind that she would agree with him. This gave him pause for thought. He took her hand and continued walking.

At the corner before they got to her house, he stopped again. "Liv?" He sounded nervous.

"What is it, Wen? Did it freak you out to pass a church on the way home? Or was it the florist with the 'wedding special' sign in the window? Don't worry. Not a single bell rang in my head either time."

Wen took both of her hands in his, and he faced her. "Olivia, I love you."

"Yes, Wen, and I love you, too."

He looked down at the ground between them, "Part of me is a little bit sorry that we're so young. Because if we weren't," he looked into her eyes, "I would ask you to marry me in a heartbeat."

Olivia made a small gasp. She smiled. Almost inaudibly, she said, "And I would say yes." At the embarrassment of this revelation, she looked down. Wen put his hand under her chin and tilted her face up to his. He looked into her eyes and smiled at her. Before he could lower his face to kiss her, Olivia stood up on her tippy toes to reach him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He held her so tight that her toes left the ground. Neither of them had ever felt this happy before, and they were both pretty sure that no one else had ever felt as happy as they did at that moment.

And in yet another part of town…

Ray took a detour on the way to Stella's home. He found a secluded place to park the car. Stella felt excited and nervous about this. She loved every form of touch from Ray: his hand holding hers, his arms around her, even just their knees bumping under a dinner table, all of that sent waves of warmth and electricity through her. And his kisses should seriously be made illegal. He was just the right combination of warmth and affection with intense and almost urgent, but never sloppy or pushy. She could seriously consider spending every waking moment kissing him.

And this frightened her. For one thing, it threatened clouding her better judgment on all the other things she ought to do in her day. But Stella was always good about keeping her priorities straight. As tempting as non-stop lip-lock with Ray was, she knew that homework, rehearsal, and family still need to take their precedence.

She had an entirely different worry that was beginning to creep forward. Ray was older and – she was guessing – much more experienced than she was. She was pretty sure that he was not going to go on quite as content as she was with just kissing. She wasn't completely sure how she was going to handle that confrontation when it happened. And she had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to happen soon.

Ray stopped the car. He ran his fingers up and down Stella's forearm. Her stomach and heart returned to the liquid state that was the normal result of Ray touching her. His fingers dragged their way up her arm and onto her shoulder. She was putty in his hands. She turned her head, leaned over, and kissed him. Or rather, she began to kiss him, and then he took over. She embraced him and ran her hands along his back, but she wanted to touch his skin. Her fingertips, then her nails, lightly touched his neck. He inhaled sharply at this. She pulled back and said, "Did I scratch you? I'm sorry!" He shook his head vehemently and said, "No!" as he placed her fingers back on his neck and went back to kissing her. Inside, Stella smiled that she could make him react like that.

Ray's hands dropped to her waist, like they had earlier in the evening after Stella's post-dinner kiss attack. Stella had an excuse to stop him that time. She wasn't sure how she was going to do it now. She waited to see what he would do before she acted. His thumbs traced back and forth toward the front of her waist, almost at her stomach.

Stella remembered her parents' words, over and over and over again. _A gentleman will respect a lady's wishes. Any guy who doesn't is no gentleman._ Stella had to turn this gorgeous, beautiful, incredibly good-feeling creature back into a gentleman. In her head, she cursed herself, but she had to do it.

And yet, she didn't have to. Ray stopped himself. "Sometimes, you are just too much woman for me." He ran his fingers though his hair, a now-familiar gesture to Stella. She knew he was trying to cool down.

Stella thought of many clever quips, but she said nothing. Something told her that Ray wasn't really joking this time. He grabbed his key in the ignition, but before he could turn it to start the car, Stella put her hand on his, stopping him. "Ray?"

"I don't want to have this conversation."

"OK," she said. She gave his hand a squeeze and then retracted her hand. Ray started the engine, and then he stopped it. He heaved a large and loud sigh. He scowled and stared at the steering wheel. "This isn't the kind of thing a guy talks about."

Again, Stella said, "OK."

Ray replied, "How is it that you always know exactly how to get me to want to talk to you? You always know when to back off, and that weirdly makes me want to talk. How do you do that?"

Stella reasoned that saying she got it from her mother was not the thing to say right now. Instead, she said, "You and I are a lot alike in that regard. I hate to be pushed to talk about stuff I don't want to talk about."

"Yeah…" He looked at her briefly, then back at his steering wheel. "Stella, ARGH!" He stopped himself again.

This time, Stella had no idea what to do. There was something he clearly wanted to say to her, but he couldn't seem to get it out. She said as much as she ought to by way of encouraging him. And she sensed that touching him was somehow out of line at this particular moment. She decided that he probably needed some warmth and perhaps even a term of endearment.

"Ray. Sweetheart. I have fallen irrevocably in love with you. I can take anything you have to say. But if you don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to."

"I think that this might be too much."

"If it's something that you think will affect us, then not telling me can't possibly be any easier, in the long run."

"You and your perfect logic."

Stella said nothing.

"All right." He faced her. "Last summer, I met a girl out on a gig. We went out for a little while, and we got pretty intense…physically."

"How…intense? Like…all…?"

"NO," he said emphatically. "But…well…a lot." He paused again. She couldn't figure out if his hesitation was due to embarrassment, shame, fear of her reaction, or a combination.

He continued. "There was one night that got pretty out of hand. Then…it was kinda ackward…and we broke up pretty quickly after."

Stella was starting to feel horrified, but she knew what she had to ask: "Did you push her further than she wanted…?"

Again, he said an emphatic, "NO." Then he was silent. He knew he had to tell her, but at the end of the day, he was still a guy, and this was just too humiliating. "Actually, she was more into it than I was."

Stella had to clarify. "Are you saying that _she_ pushed _you _farther than you wanted?"

Wrinkling his nose in embarrassment, and taking a sudden intense interest in his lap, he said, "yeah." He wanted to disappear. "This is so stupid," he muttered.

After some silence, Stella finally spoke. "So…what's the problem?"

"Last summer taught me a lot about what I'm ready for right now. And I've been great at keeping things with girls where I want them. It helps that I break up with them before the physical stuff even needs to be a factor. But now there's you."

"Now here's me."

"I know this sounds really stupid because I'm a guy…"

"…and a guy with a womanizing reputation."

"Yeah, but I don't want to get too carried away."

"Neither do I."

"Sure doesn't seem like it."

"Well, Ray," Stella said, a touch irritated at his implication, "you're just so hot, I can't control my feeble womanly self around you."

"Oh, God, Stella. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. ARGH!" he said again, smacking the steering wheel. "I can't get this right."

"Then, try again."

"That's it? You're not pissed?"

"Depends on how your do-over goes."

Ray gave her a small smile, appreciating yet again how he managed to find such a great girl. "What I meant was, you're so freakin' hot, and when you touch me, I can't think straight. It's not just that you and I have awesome chemistry, it's _how _you touch me. You just know exactly what makes me totally lose my mind. I'm not saying that you're some kind of animal attacking me. I'm saying that you touching me makes me feel like I could lose my self-control." He went on, "and because I want to be with you as long as possible, for as long as you're willing to put up with me, I don't want to do anything to jeopardize it." He concluded with, "I don't know if that makes any kind of sense, but I really hope that you understand that I had no intention of insulting you."

Stella was silent for several minutes. Ray was intelligent enough to wait in silence and patience for her to absorb it all and make her decision. He would rather gargle glass than to lose her, but he was not going to take leave of his dignity by groveling. Besides, she would hate that, and she would lose all respect for him.

At last, she spoke. "OK, here's the thing. First of all, thank-you for clarifying yourself. I'm no longer insulted. Next, I only do what I do around you out of instinct. You just kind of draw it out of me. You make me feel sooooo good, that I just try to do something that you'll like. But also, I like it. I'm glad that you like how I touch you, but honestly, selfishly, I like the feel of your skin, and your strong arms, and, well, everything. Guys don't own the market of enjoying sex, you know that. But you know what? I've been super scared about bringing this up. I thought you had all sorts of experience. You're two years older than I. And they're 2 kinda big years, in, um, human…physical…development and experience. Lately, I've been worried that you were going to want to start going further than I want to go. I didn't want to have this conversation, either. And I didn't want to be the no-sex police of this relationship. That's no fun."

She had been looking at Ray this whole time, but he had been looking at his steering wheel. Finally, he looked at her. "Damn, you're beautiful," he said.

"So are you," she replied. "And you're, to use your words, insanely hot. Good heavens, you don't have a single fat cell in your arms, do you? Seriously, you're just skin and muscle. And making out with you is like the teenager equivalent of a really great playground."

Ray smiled at that analogy.

Stella said, "But here, as much as I'm loath to do this, I'll say it clearly and out loud: I'm not ready for anything beyond kissing. Are you ok with that?"

"Yes, definitely," he said. "Now that that's taken care of," he leaned toward her, his lips less than an inch from hers. He asked, "slide or swing set?"

Stella placed her hands behind Ray's neck, said, "teeter-totter", and she kissed him.


	27. Chapter 27

Little by little, we're finally winding down and tying loose ends!

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 27**

The next day, Stella woke with a start. She realized that they only had about a week and a half until the tour-launch gala. All the relationship drama had severely set back their rehearsal progress. She had to get everyone organized and quick!

That afternoon, she began the pep talk speech. "All right, guys. We have a week and a half to get ready for the Mel's event. We are seriously behind!"

Wen replied, "I think we're fine. It's a gig. We can pull it off."

Stella retorted, "Wen, it's not just a gig. This is what will decide if we can even go on tour this summer. We have to give them an extraordinary show. Your dad said that we need investors. And I say that we ought to give Mel a great show as a sign of gratitude for everything he's done for us."

Mo said, "She's right. And we've let all of our personal stuff in the past week get in the way of effective rehearsals."

"OK," said Wen. "Then, we'll re-double our efforts. It's not like it's a chore for me to hang out with you guys making music!" Everyone smiled.

"Then," concluded Stella, "let's get started. I think we ought to put more work into 'Phoenix." I think we can make it ready by next week. Also, I have some ideas about changes to 'Good, Interrupted.' And we need to make a set list that is a variety of our styles. We can figure that out later, after we decide which are our best songs. OK? We good to go?"

After miscellaneous forms of "yes", everyone got out their instruments to warm up and tune. Just as they were about to start a run-through of "Phoenix", Charlie spoke up. "Um, guys, I have to say something."

"Come on, Charlie, can't it wait?" begged Stella.

"I guess so, but kinda not," said Charlie. "I'll be quick. I promise."

Stella sighed, and said, "OK. What is it?"

Charlie, clearly nervous, but determined, took a deep breath and launched into it. "OK, you know Veronica? The girl from the coffee house, and the park, and who saved me in the interview last night?"

Everyone nodded, but they were a touch impatient that he get to the point. "Well," Charlie paused, and then he plunged forward. "I've asked her out. I asked her to the tour-launch party, as my date."

Olivia replied, "That's really great of you to thank her for her help like that, Charlie."

Charlie shook his head. "No, it's more than that. I like her. I want to date her." He turned to Mo and said, "And you need to be ok with this. We can trust her, Mo."

Everyone looked at Mo, on bated breath, but most especially Scott. This was the true-test moment.

Mo locked eye contact with Charlie and said, "I am ok with this Charlie. Your life is yours. I've been wrong to not trust you to handle it right. She is a really lovely person: what she did last night was amazing! You're great, and she seems great. You'll be, well, great, together!"

There was a collective sigh of relief, even if it was inaudible. Then, something seemed to cross Stella's mind. "Hey, Charlie. When was the last time you saw Veronica?"

"Only when we were at Minnie 'N Joe's all together."

"So, you haven't seen her recently? Like, what she looks like?"

Charlie looked annoyed. "Look, I don't agree with all of you. This P.J. thing is stupid. I think she's cute and that's it. Just drop it, ok?"

"Of course, Charlie! I didn't mean anything by it." Then, Stella changed topic. "Let's have some drinks before we start, ok? Charlie, it's your turn to buy. Can you go get us some lemonade?"

"OK," said Charlie, and he took off.

Once he was gone, Stella faced everyone else, smiling so big she was almost laughing. "This is so great!"

Through narrowed eyes, Wen said, "Stella, what are you up to?"

"Well, Ray and I went to Minnie 'N Joe's on my birthday. And Veronica had changed."

"What?" said Mo. "How?"

"Well, I guess after we saw her on Sunday, she must've gotten a make-over or something, because she looked _totally _different."

"Oh no!" said Olivia. "Like, bad, different?"

"Do make-overs usually result in 'bad different', Olivia?"

"So, what does she look like?"

Stella smiled wide again. "First of all, she dresses to her actual shape now. And apparently those weird baggy outfits hid a pretty sweet bod. And she wears make-up, not whore-ish, but just enough to accent the beauty that was already there. But the best part of all is her hair."

"Shaven?" asked Scott. Mo elbowed him. "What? That'd be kinda cool, in a freakish sort of way."

Stella cocked her head at Scott, and then she shook her head. "Um, no. She dyed it red. And it's a shade of red that makes her eyes look _amazing_! I mean, I've never seen that shade of green before."

"Contacts?" asked Wen.

Ray said, "No. I've never seen contacts that color."

Wen said, "So, what you're saying is that she looks hot now?" Stella made a face at him, but she nodded.

Olivia shrugged and said, "Well, I always thought she was pretty…"

Just then, Charlie returned. "Lemonades all around!" They got their drinks and went to work.

The next week went smoothly, but incredibly busy. Between rehearsal and school work, Charlie had no time to himself. He had wanted to visit Veronica, but there was just never any time. Instead, they spent their evenings either talking on line or talking on the phone. They talked about music, their families, their interests, and just about anything they could come up with in order to keep the conversation going:

Because he knew he could trust Veronica, Charlie told her the more accurate story of how the band met.

"Detention?" she couldn't believe it. "What did you guys do?"

"Oh, that's a story in and of itself…." and he launched into it.

Charlie told her about how Scott and Ray joined the band.

"That is so romantic!"

"Yeah, you can kinda see why I never stood a chance with Mo."

"Well, then I have another reason to like Scott." She instantly regretted hitting send. Maybe that was too much, too soon?

But Charlie's response was, "You and me both!" which made her smile again. But then, ackward (this was where they both enjoyed not being face-to-face at this point). Veronica brought the subject back. "And Ray? What's his story?"

"It's a big one." He told her the whole thing, including Ray's big personality transformation.

"That explains it," she wrote.

"What?"

_Oh no! _She had promised Ray that she wouldn't tell anyone about his and Stella's accidentally overly intimate duet at the coffee house. She would cover. She wrote, "Well, I saw Mudslide Crush perform a few times. With them, his voice and stage persona had a cold, harsh edge. He's a terrific singer, and a brilliant performer. But he is definitely used to being in charge."

"That's accurate."

"But recently, I heard him sing, and he was changed. There was a richer tone to his voice. Also, his stage presence was more subdued, like he wanted to let the other people on stage shine."

"Interesting. But when did you hear him recently?"

"Well…he was goofing around at the coffee house one night last week. He comes fairly regularly." That seemed to be enough. Charlie didn't ask anything else.

When the nights got later, and the two of them got braver, they talked about the more personal things.

"So, I have tell you something," he began.

"OK…"

"The day that Mo tried to kiss me? Well, there are a couple more reasons why I stopped her."

"Other than that you weren't interested?"

"Yeah. So one of the other reasons was that, well, I started thinking of you."

"Oh!" Even though she was completely alone in her room, Veronica blushed. "Well, then, you should know that the same sort of thing happened when I turned down Jordan…"

Charlie had suspected that, but all the same, it was nice to hear. He launched into the rest of what he had to say.

"And the other thing is, well, this is kind of embarrassing."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, I do want to." He decided a different approach. "Can I ask you something personal?"

"I guess so. Maybe? Do I have to answer?"

"Of course not. OK, here: when was your first kiss?"

"Wow, that is personal!"

Charlie immediately regretted it. It was unfair of him to hide his embarrassment behind making her uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry. That was rude, and I guess kinda out of nowhere. I'll start by telling you when mine was, and then you can tell me yours if you want or not."

_He has had one. OK you are out of your league, Veronica._ She had been telling herself that ever since Charlie asked her out.

"OK…"

"OK, mine was…never."

_WHAT? _She regained composure. "Really?"

"Would I lie about something so embarrassing?"

"I imagine not." Then, she added, "But it seems like it would be a nice memory to create to make your first kiss with the girl you had had such a crush on for such a long time. It would be sweet closure, like in all those coming-of-age movies that always take place in the 60's."

"OK, first of all, as much as I'm eager to get rid of my 'unkissed' status, I don't want my 1st kiss to be closure, I want it to be a beginning. Second of all, why do those movies always take place in the 60's?"

"I think they think it was a 'simpler' time, like no one after that has to come of age, because the world already kicks us into grown-up thinking."

"Yes, race riots and the Vietnam war were _totally_ a simpler time."

"hahahahahhahahahahahaha!" They were both relieved to have a little subject-change. But Veronica decided to bite the bullet and 'fess up to Charlie about the actual subject at hand. "OK," she began. "I'll tell you."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Never."

"You, too?"

"Pretty pathetic, huh?"

"No."

"Thank-you." Neither of them knew quite what to say next. So, they both claimed that they had tons of homework and ended the conversation in the way that they always did.

"I'll see you soon," wrote Charlie.

"See you soon!" wrote Veronica.


	28. Chapter 28

I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

**Chapter 28**

Veronica was starting to feel deceitful in keeping all of this from Stacy. If it had been any other guy – not a rock star about whom Stacy ran a fan site – Veronica would have told her every single detail of every interaction with him. But because this _was_ a rock star, and Stacy _did_ run a fan site devoted to him, Veronica had kept everything from her. Now that things were looking a bit more solid between Veronica and Charlie, she realized that she had to tell Stacy.

The day after the "first kiss" conversation with Charlie, Veronica texted Stacy that she needed to have lunch alone with her that day. At the bell, they made their excuses to their other friends, and they found their privacy space on the stands at the track.

"Stacy, I've been keeping something from you. It's a big thing, and I need you to be discreet about it once I tell you. I won't trick you into promising me, but I'm begging you as my best friend to please consider keeping this private, for now."

"Mac, I would _never_ betray you, no matter what you have to tell me. You know that! Why would you even question it?"

"Well, because this is pretty big."

"Mac, is everything ok? Are your parents all right?"

"Yes, yes! No, Stace, this is actually good news."

"Well, spill it!"

"I've got at date on Friday."

"Yay! What are you gonna wear? Who's the lucky guy?"

Veronica laughed. She couldn't help it. It was totally Classic Stacy to inquire after her outfit before asking about the guy. Then, she immediately inwardly panicked. She actually had no idea what she was going to wear.

"Well, I've just realized that I'm going to need your help on what to wear. And as for the guy, well, it's Charlie."

"Charlie Who?" Stacy couldn't think of any Charlie's that they knew. Unless…no, not possible.

"Delgado."

Stacy's jaw dropped. Veronica couldn't help herself; she had to say it: "You're going to catch flies, dear." Stacy closed her mouth.

"No. Freakin'. Way. When did it happen? Oh wait, it was the night of the interview, wasn't it?"

"Well, sort of." Veronica realized she needed to tell Stacy the whole thing, starting with their first I.M. conversation. She did, ending with, "Stacy, I feel really bad that I didn't tell you earlier. I didn't think anything would come of it, and…"

"You didn't want to add possible extra gossip to his life. I get it, Mac."

"Are you mad at me?" Veronica felt so ashamed of herself. Stacy was and always would be her best friend, no matter what guys came in and out of their lives.

But Stacy surprised her. "I could never be mad at you, Mac. You're the most good-hearted person I know. You were just trying to give privacy to a guy whose life is rather public. And even if I am your best friend, I am also a member of the press, sort of. I can see the conflict of interests there."

The girls hugged, and all was right. Then, Stacy said, "So, now we have to get you a killer outfit. Where are you going? WAIT! Has he seen you post-make over?"

"No, he hasn't."

"So, your date will be the Big Reveal, huh?" Veronica said, "I guess so." Stacy clasped her hands together and squealed. "This is great news!" Again, Stacy said, "So, where are you going?"

Veronica told her about the party, but she left out the tour announcement. That was official band business, and so Veronica didn't feel quite so guilty about keeping that information from Stacy.

Stacy said, "OK, clear your schedule today. We are going to find ourselves the World's Most Killer Outfit!"

The day before the party, Stella decided that rehearsal should be short. The set list was solid, and everyone reasoned that the best thing to do at this point was to rest their chops.

Charlie knew how he wanted to spend that extra time. Under the excuse of getting Veronica's ticket to her, Charlie went to Minnie 'N Joe's.

Veronica couldn't remember a busier day. A convention at the medical building down the street had cleared them of _all _of their Afternoon Bagels, a signature product there. The second Veronica arrived after school, her dad immediately put her in the kitchen to make as many muffins as possible. "The base batter is in there. I need you to work your magic and turn it into a variety of flavors, STAT!" Within an hour, several dozen muffins of various flavors were in the oven. Veronica was covered in blueberries, bran, and banana goo. No sooner had she finished the muffins, when her mother needed her to cover for the waitress who had called in sick. Aforementioned medical convention greatly increased the amount of clientele, assisted by the stack of coupons her dad had given to every business within a five-mile radius that morning.

Another hour had Veronica filthy, flushed, and exhausted. But at least she was getting a lot of tip money, which would help to pay for the party dress she had bought the day before. Stacy outdid herself in fashion know-how. Veronica was going to look sensational at the Mel's party. But "sensational" didn't come cheap. There was a significant credit card bill that Veronica needed to repay. She didn't mind: the excitement of Charlie seeing her look as pretty as she could possibly look was motivation enough to work off the bill.

She was in the kitchen, pulling the last batch of muffins from the oven, when her mother called in, "Ronnie? There's someone here to see you."

"Yes?" Veronica emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. Then, she froze. There, on the other side of the order counter, was Charlie. Veronica had various pieces of food stuck all over herself (it was a constant family joke that she always forgot to put on an apron), her face was flushed, and her hair was a frizzy mess. It was pulled back in a ponytail, but various strands of hair had broken free from their elastic confines. Veronica was mortified.

Charlie didn't see any of that. He saw the most spectacular green eyes he had ever seen before in his life. The actual color was brought out by the shade of red that her hair had been dyed. Even though it was pulled back, it still framed her face. Added to the color (a sensational shade of green he had never seen) was Veronica's natural warmth of expression. Before he arrived that day, Charlie had feared that his imagination was going to make Veronica prettier in his mind than he had quite remembered her, and that once he saw her in person, he would be disappointed. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Veronica was, in fact, much prettier than he had remembered and then imagined. He was dumb-struck. He could not stop staring at her.

Veronica interpreted that as complete disgust in her messy appearance. She was annoyed with herself that she had allowed herself to believe that someone of his caliber would find her attractive. She looked down in embarrassment.

Charlie was still standing there, stupidly staring. Veronica looked down, and that helped him to finally find his voice, but not before he snuck a glance and her body. Her clothing fit her physique, unlike the shapeless outfits he had seen her in before. Yep, she was hot. _Speak, you idiot! _He realized that far too much time had passed without anyone saying anything.

"I have your ticket," he said lamely. "Um, do you have a second?" He looked around at the busy coffee house. Veronica thought, _he's going to try to get out of this date. How humiliating!_

Before she could reply, her mother said, "Ronnie, it's time for your break! It's nice to see you again, Charlie." She smiled at him. Charlie was still star-struck by his music idol and could only manage a nod at her.

Charlie and Veronica sat at the tiny table in the corner reserved for employees on their break. Veronica broke the silence. "So, how's rehearsal going?"

"Good," he said. But he didn't want to talk about this. He blurted it out. "Veronica, you're beautiful!"

She wasn't sure she heard that right. "Excuse me?"

"I remembered that you're pretty. But, well, you're just, so beautiful! I'm sorry. Is that too much? Man, I'm an idiot." He shook his head and looked at the table.

Relieved, Veronica laughed. On impulse, she reached across the table and touched his arm. "Not at all! It's just that, I'm such a mess! What do you like best: the banana goo, or the half-pot of coffee spill? I'm the queen of over-filling the cups, and then sloshing them on myself."

At that moment, Charlie was even more endeared to her than before. As usual, Veronica was a genius at putting people at their ease, even if it meant embarrassing herself instead. He replied, "Well, I was going to say your incredible green eyes. But at closer look, I think I like that purple streak on your shoulder. Is it a blueberry?"

"Ding-ding! Right! You get the prize!"

Charlie wanted to say something clever like, "And what might that prize be?", but he felt foolish about lines like that. So, instead, he said, "blue ribbon for the blueberry!" Veronica laughed.

"Actually, I'm glad you came," said Veronica.

"Would you not have been?" asked Charlie.

"Well, I was kinda hoping for you to see me at the party, when I was all snazzed-up. But seeing you now kinda takes the edge off. Does that make sense?"

"I think I'm supposed to say 'take the edge off of what?', but I know what you're talking about. I won't feel so nervous tomorrow."

"You'd be nervous about _me_?" Veronica never thought she'd be the kind of girl to make a guy feel nervous. She liked how that made her feel.

"Yeah, I would," said Charlie. The both smiled, looked at each other, looked away, laughed awkwardly, rolled their eyes at their foolishness, looked back at each other. This sequence repeated itself a few times before Veronica's mother called at her again. "Ronnie, sweetie, I'm sorry, but I really need your help here!"

"Got it, Mom!" To Charlie, she said, "I'll see you tomorrow." Charlie handed her the ticket. Veronica intentionally "accidentally" touched his hand while receiving it. Charlie brushed his fingers over Veronica's before letting go of the ticket. Veronica said, "I'll walk you out." Charlie replied, "such customer service!" She giggled. Veronica wasn't much of a giggler, but she relinquished herself into extra girliness at this moment.

At the door to the coffee shop, they said their good-byes yet again. Then, Veronica got brave. She leaned forward, and she kissed Charlie on the cheek. She paused a moment at his face, enjoying the feeling of his skin under her lips and the smell of his aftershave. Charlie quickly recovered from his surprise, and he smiled at her. He said, "I can't wait til tomorrow!"

"RONNIE!" Mrs. McKenna called. Veronica flashed one more smile at Charlie before disappearing back into the coffee house.


	29. Chapter 29

Finally! We reach the end of this story. Thank-you all for your patience at my slooooooooow writing in this one. And thank-you for all of your kind reviews! Also, thank-you for being supportive of the original character. I've been working on original stories, and the character development is just so difficult! Your patience and support with Veronica entering into the lives of the characters we all already love, was a huge help to me and my other writing attempts.

On that note, do any of you write on fictionpress? Let me know if you like it.

Many hugs to all! And to my German buddy, bis spaeter, ich hoeffe!

I do not own Lemonade Mouth, but I do own Veronica McKenna and Stacy Jenkins (yay, me, ownin' stuff!).

**Chapter 29**

Mel's tour-launch party was a huge success. Mel secured several investors and sponsors for the tour. The guests had known of Lemonade Mouth's up-and-coming status as celebrities, but the band's performance on this night demonstrated their musical prowess. This is what a review of the performance read the next day:

In addition to their usual set, Lemonade Mouth premiered two new songs. "Good, Interrupted" was sung by their new manager-intern, Ray Beech (formerly of Mudslide Crush). Stella harmonized at the bridge. These were two singers usually known for energetic drive in their voices. Because the song spoke of redemption and change of attitude, it was a perfect fit to have atypical voices sing it.

Then there was the new song, "Phoenix". It was sung as a duet, debuting Charlie Delgado as a lead vocalist. He had a sweet tone to his voice that lent itself well to the intense subject matter of the song. And Olivia's vocals were so convincing that it almost seemed that she had personal experience in the subject matter.

But that night, before they were officially informed of their great success, the members of Lemonade Mouth simply had a blast doing what they loved best with the people they loved best. They _knew_ that this was one of their absolute best performances. They were more strongly connected to each other than ever before, both musically and emotionally. Their personal love for one another and profound friendship enriched their music in ways that few other bands can accomplish. That night, each member of Lemonade Mouth was certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that no matter what, they would always be fused to one another in lifelong love and friendship.

And then, Charlie finally got to have romance in his life.

Veronica arrived at the party just as "Phoenix" was beginning. Hearing Charlie's voice sing, she was transfixed. She stood at the back of the dance floor, watching him, listening to his beautiful interpretation of such painful lyrics. By the end of the song, she was frantically dabbing at her eyes, lest her mascara run. She didn't care how silly she looked, applauding much louder than anyone else around her.

Once the set was over, the band could take a break. Charlie finally had the chance to find and greet Veronica. He had no trouble spotting her in the crowd. She wore a silver A-line dress that hit just above her knees. Its spaghetti straps afforded him a view of her bare shoulders. Her hair was worn in loose curls that framed her face. She wore a green rhinestone necklace that nearly matched her eyes.

Charlie was no less than thunderstruck. Here before him stood a goddess, and she was here _with him_. He stood in front of her and said, "You look amazing!" She smiled and said, "Thank-you! And you were amazing in the new song. I didn't realize what an incredible voice you have." Charlie said, "Thank-you. It was nerve-wracking. But I like the piece. I'm really proud of Olivia for writing it."

Then, there was the awkward pause. They stood there and smiled at one another. They were saved by the music. To appeal to the various ages of the crowd, the canned music during band breaks was what the teenagers considered "oldies". The adults present would rather think of the music as "timeless classics". The song that happened to play at that moment was Vanessa Williams' "Save the Best for Last". Charlie inwardly rolled his eyes at the timing. It was just a little too close to home for their situation. Nevertheless, even if it was more than a little bit cheesy, the fact of the matter was that it was a slow song. This was his chance. Charlie asked, "So, would you like to dance?"

Veronica, with a big smile, said, "Yes!" She did not say, "yeah" or "ok". She outright said, "yes!" He placed his hands at her hips, and she placed her hands on his shoulders. They enjoyed being so close to each other, but they were still very self-conscious. Charlie said, "this is kinda 8th grade graduation dance, isn't it?" Veronica laughed and said, "totally!" They were pretending to make fun of their situation, but they did lean in a little closer to each other.

Then, Charlie found his hands crossing each other on her back. And Veronica found her face right next to Charlie's shoulder. Charlie could feel Veronica's breath on his neck. He leaned a little bit forward, as an invitation for her to come closer. She accepted and laid her head on his shoulder. Charlie tightened his hold around her waist. Veronica's lips were millimeters away from Charlie's neck, but she didn't dare such a bold move. She decided that the next step was in Charlie's court. Simultaneously, both of them tightened their embrace.

Too soon, the song ended. Veronica was still in a fog, and she hardly knew that there was no more slow song to give them and excuse to touch each other. Charlie, on the other hand, was perfectly aware of the slow song ending, giving way to a particularly obnoxious C&C Music Factory tune. _Really?_

"Do you want to go get some air?" Charlie asked. Veronica nodded.

The venue had several patios and balconies. Charlie and Veronica found one that was fairly secluded. Charlie took her hand and said, "Thank-you for coming tonight."

"Thank-you for inviting me," said Veronica. "This is all so interesting! And you guys sound absolutely terrific!" To be honest, Veronica had no idea what she was saying. She could only think of Charlie holding her hand.

"You look really pretty tonight," said Charlie. Then he stammered, "I mean, not that you don't already look pretty, but you…your dress is really pretty…"

Veronica smiled and said, "Thank-you!" She was touched that a guy was stammering because of her. In fact, it made her feel a bit giddy, or maybe it was being so close to Charlie that made her feel giddy. She couldn't stop a small giggle from escaping.

"What is it?" Charlie asked.

"All of this is really, just, so, lovely. Thank-you again for inviting me."

"I'm glad you came."

"I'm glad to be here." Now this was sounding ridiculous. Veronica decided to be brave. "I'm happy to be your date."

That gave Charlie the courage he needed. He stepped in closer to her. He let go of her hand just long enough to place both of his hands on her waist again. Veronica allowed this, and she even stepped in closer to Charlie. Charlie leaned forward, closed his eyes, and kissed Veronica. Veronica returned the kiss and placed her hands on his cheeks. Both of them stepped closer to one another. Their arms moved instinctively into an embrace. Further instinct guided their kiss.

When they parted, Veronica laughed in spite of herself.

"What?" asked Charlie.

"No, not you at all!" said Veronica. "I was laughing at myself. It's just that, part of why I have – had – not been kissed yet was because I had thought that it – you know, a real kiss – kinda sounded disgusting. But it wasn't at all."

"That's a relief," said Charlie.

Veronica simply smiled and kissed him again. "What I mean to say is, this is really actually kinda fun. And I could totally get used to it." The she pretended to frown.

Charlie, alarmed, asked, "What? What's wrong?"

"Well, maybe I was bad at it." She said glumly.

"Hardly," said Charlie. Veronica smiled.

"But…" Charlie began. Veronica started to look panicked. He continued, "It would probably be a good idea for both of us to get lots of practice, since we're both so new at it and all…"

Veronica smiled and said, "You're right. I appreciate what a perfectionist you are." She kissed him again.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by the announcement that it was time for Lemonade Mouth's next set. "Off you go," said Veronica, completely unable to mask her disappointment.

Charlie gave her several small kisses. Then, right before leaving, he said, "Do you think that maybe you would be my girlfriend?"

Veronica, beaming, said, "as long as that means more kissing practice."

Charlie said, "definitely!" and he ran off to the stage.

**FINIS**


End file.
